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FIRST AID 


TO 


NEW 

VOTERS 



By LOUISE BURCHARD 


UllinillllllllllllllDllHIIIIIIIIMlIllllIUlKlilllllll 




COPYRtGHT 1918 
LOUISE BURCHARO 





Fir^ Aid to New Voters 


BY 


LOUISE BURCHARD 

n 

Teacher of History and Civics 
Schenectady High School 


WITH 

AN INTRODUCTION 
BY 


DR. ELOISE ELLERY 

Associate Professor of History 
in Vassar College 


Schenectady, N. Y. 

1918 






©.CI.A5(l868(i 


I 


l' 




INTRODUCTION 


It was stirring news winch came to us on the morning of 
November 7, 1917, that the Constitutional Amendment giving the 
suffrage to the women of New York State had been passed. No 
thinking man or woman could fail to be moved by it. In the 
first thrill of a victory won our thoughts turned back to the pio¬ 
neers into whose labors we had entered, to those whose work had 
built up slowly and painfully a changed public opinion the results 
of which we were to enjoy. 

Then our thoughts turned to the future. Now at least we 
were united. To some of us the vote meant a right won, to others 
a privilege conferred, to some a burden imposed, but to all of us 
it was a responsibility. Whatever our individual views, “it was 
no longer a theory but a condition by which we were confronted.” 
How w^ere we to meet it.^ And upon many of us came an almost 
overwhelming sense of responsibility, especially when we tried to 
translate these responsibilities from the general into the concrete. 
When was the next election.^ What must we do to qualify as 
voters.^ For whom were we to vote.^ What were the issues in 
local affairs,—in national affairs.^ Definite information was what 
we needed, facts and more facts. 

It is to meet just this need that Miss Burchard has prepared 
the brief manual which she aptly and modestly calls “First Aid 
to New Voters.” Though, as sh^ states in her Preface, it is the 
outcome of a series of practical talks to women, the book is of 
value to the new voter, whether he be man or woman, and even 
the seasoned veteran in things political may find much of help 
in it. Moreover, while the work is largely informational, and 
there is no claim on the part of the writer to have done anything 
but yeoman service, it is really more than yeoman service A few 
words in regard to the origin of the different institutions and 
organizations discussed, help to a better understanding of how 
things came, to be as they are; a statement of problems involved 
in existing conditions leads one’s thought fonvard to means of 
handling them; and a reminder that we are no longer living in 
“splendid isolation” makes us realize anew that we are citizens 
of the world. Finally, the inspiring opportunity presented by 


political life is pointed out, of learning to judge issues not on 
personal but on general grounds. It has been well said that all 
men are of one of two types: the one reacts to any given situation 
according to how it is likely to affect him personally; the other 
according to how it is likely to affect the general good. To which 
of these classes is the new voter to belong.^ 

After having dealt with town, village, city, state and nation. 
Miss Burchard comes back to city problems for her final chapter. 
This is altogether fitting. Citizens of the world, though we be, 
and realizing as never before that no man liveth to himself or 
dieth to himself, yet, after all, our immediate connection is with 
the city in which we actually, physically dwell, and from this 
connection and obligation we cannot get away, war or no war. 
During the war city life must go on and there can be no better 
preparation for the constructive problems to be met after the war 
than the practice of good citizenship in one’s own locality. It is, 
moreover, through citizenship that that “passion for order and 
beauty in human relationships,” may find perhaps most adequate 
expression. 

A celebrated author in an address to the people of Edin¬ 
burgh once spoke to this effect: “You are rightly proud of your 
beautiful city, but you have no right to call it yours unless you 
personally have contributed something to its beauty.” How 
many of us could claim a possession on such terms as that? 
Though, as the title suggests, “First Aid to New Voters,” the 
author professes to offer only preliminary assistance, her work 
affords substantial help by which we may arrive at the kind of 
possession indicated by the Edinburgh address and earn the right 
to speak of our city, our state, and our Nation. 

ELOISE ELLERY, 


Vassar College, 
PougJikeepsie, N, Y, 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter 

Introduction 
Foreword - 

I. Citizenship 

II. The Town 

III. The Vileage ------ 

IV. The City ------- 

V. The County ------ 

VI. The State ------ 

VII. Tpie Nation - - 

VIII. Courts and the Treatment of Criminaes 

IX. Suffrage and Erections - - - - 

X. Methods of Lawmaking - - - - 

XI. Taxation ------- 

XII. The Schooe System - - - - - 

XIII. Citizens of the Wored _ _ _ - 

XIV. The Territories - - - - - 

XV. City Probeems ------ 


Page 

- 3 

- 6 

- 7 

- 9 

- 10 
- 11 

- 14 

- 15 

- 19 

- 28 

- 34 

- 41 

- 43 

- 47 

- 52 

- 55 

- 57 



FOREWORD. 


This book is the outcome of talks on practical politics given 
before classes of women in Schenectady from January to June, 
1918. It is not intended as a complete manual of civics, but it 
attempts to present the information most necessary for intelli¬ 
gent voting and to arouse an interest in civic problems. It seemed 
best to confine the discussion to conditions in New York State. 

Chapters II to VII, inclusive, explain what services each unit 
of government is supposed to perform for the people, and what 
legislative and executive officials carry'out these functions. The 
jurisdiction of the various courts and their methods of working 
are discussed in Chapter VIII. The subjects of some of these 
chapters have been suggested by new voters anxious to prepare 
for their responsibilities, so it is hoped that they will meet a real 
need. Special emphasis has been laid on the problems of city 
government since, with many of these, women are particularly 
fitted to deal. An effort has been made to point out some of the 
weaknesses and evils in our political system and to discuss reforms 
that have been proposed. 

Good government in a democracy is possible only when the 
voters take a lively and intelligent interest in public affairs, and 
it is hoped that this book may be of some service toward that end. 


CHAPTER I. 

CITIZENSHIP. 

Definition :—The fourteenth amendment to the National 
Constitution lays the basis for citizenship thus: “All persons born 
or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction 
thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein 
they reside.” So citizenship is not limited by age, or sex, or race, 
but every man, woman, or child born in the United States or 
naturalized under its laws is entitled to the privileges of a citizen. 
The children of American citizens born while their parents are 
temporarily living abroad are considered citizens, likewise the 
children of American diplomats born abroad. The inhabitants of 
the Philippines, Guam, and the Samoan Islands have not been 
given privileges of citizenship as have those of Alaska, Hawaii, 
and Porto Rico. Citizenship in the United States entitles a person 
to many civil rights, such as freedom of speech, trial by jury, pro¬ 
tection of property under the laws, but not to political rights 
which are under the jurisdiction of the states. Citizenship does 
not guarantee the right to vote, nor does suffrage cover the rights 
of citizenship. 

Immigration :—Before considering the process of naturali¬ 
zation it will be well to, review briefly the immigration laws, for 
these materially, if indirectly, affect our foreign-born citizens. 
Until within the last ‘ forty years immigration was encouraged 
rather than restricted; but since people with far lower standards 
of living than our own began to come, and since most of our avail¬ 
able land has been taken up, measures have been passed to limit 
the influx of foreigners. The western states early raised an agita¬ 
tion over the “yellow peril,” believing that the Chinese and Jap¬ 
anese in this country were becoming a serious menace through 
their lower standards of living, and that they could not and should 
not be assimilated into our population as are the white peoples of 
Europe. The result of this was the Chinese Exclusion Act pro¬ 
hibiting the entrance of Chinese coolies, and an agreement with 
Japan limiting emigration from her shores to the United States. 

All diseased persons, idiots or insane people, criminals, and 
paupers are excluded, and the steamship company that brings over 
such persons has to bear the expense of their deportation. Every 


8 


Immigrant admitted must have visible means of support, but no 
persons are allowed to come under contract to perform labor. A 
head tax of $4 is levied on every person admitted. These restric¬ 
tions, however, have not been sufficient to dam the flood of immi¬ 
gration, and Congress, after the bill had been vetoed once by 
President Taft and twice by President Wilson, passed over the 
last veto a law providing for a literacy test. The ability to read 
and write some language, not necessarily English, is the test re¬ 
quired ; this will not necessarily admit those who will make the best 
citizens, nor weed out the undesirables, but it at least sets a limit 
to the number, and lightens somewhat the burden on our educa¬ 
tional systems. The importance of the Americanization move¬ 
ment has been shown to the public because of the danger from the 
divided allegiance of the “hyphenates” during the Great War. 
Various organizations are attempting to teach the adult immi¬ 
grant the essentials of good citizenship, and New York State has 
passed a law providing that all persons under twenty-one speaking 
a foreign language must attend night school until they can speak 
English. 

Naturalization :—The privilege of naturalization is con¬ 
fined to those of the white and black races. A person of Mon¬ 
golian race cannot acquire citizenship except through birth in 
this country. To be eligible for naturalization an alien must 
have lived in this country five years, be of good moral character 
and desirous of upholding the principles of our government, be 
able to write his own language and to read and speak English. 
There are two steps in the process. First, he must formally 
declare before a federal, state, or county court his intention of 
becoming an American citizen, renounce his former allegiance, 
and give information as to his age, date of arrival, etc. He is 
then given a certificate known as his first papers. After at least 
two years have elapsed since he took out his first papers and at 
least five years since he came into the country, the court will issue 
him a certificate of naturalization if he fullfils the requirements 
and pays the $5 fee. A man’s wife and minor children are auto¬ 
matically naturalized when he is, without taking out separate 
papers. The granting of suffrage to women should change this 
law since many of these foreign-born women cannot speak, much 
less read, English, and so form an element of weakness, if not of 
real danger, in our voting population. The injustice of another 
law should be removed, namely, that when an American woman 
marries a foreigner she loses her citizenship. 


9 


Loss OF Citizenship :—Citizenship may be lost through con¬ 
viction for crime, or through naturalization in another country. 
The latter is contrary to England’s earlier and Germany’s present 
policy. The idea of ‘‘once a German, always a German” has 
enabled the imperial government to maintain its control over many 
German-Americans. 

Duties of Citizens :—Citizenship in the United States 
brings greater privileges and opportunities than in any other 
country in the world, but privileges always bring added responsi¬ 
bilities, and a true patriot will show his appreciation of the bene¬ 
fits he enjoys by taking an active, intelligent, and altruistic part 
in public affairs. Men have been too much influenced by their 
private interests in their voting; if women can learn to take a 
broader view and vote for the good of the community rather than 
for their own selfish ends, they will more than justify the act of 
granting them suffrage rights. Civic righteousness should be in 
every good citizen’s code of morals, and it reveals itself, not in 
complaints about the inefficiency of the government, but in un¬ 
tiring opposition to social, economic, and political evils. Such 
evils are not necessary and ways to abolish them will he found 
when an enlightened citizenship is aroused from its good-natured 
indifference to a passion for righting wrongs. 


CHAPTER IL 

THE TOWN. 

Origin :—The colonists who sought religious and political 
freedom on the shores of the new world came hither, not as indi¬ 
viduals, but in groups bound together by religious and social ties. 
The freedom they desired was not license nor anarchy, but liberty 
through laws made and enforced by themselves. Each group 
formed a little community and the inhabitants at once realized 
certain mutual needs, such as common defence against the Indians, 
the care of the sick and the poor, construction of roads, and pro 
tection of property against stray animals. Measures to meet 
these needs were discussed in a general meeting and officers were 
chosen to enforce the rules adopted. This was a tiny but perfect 
democracy, and laid the basis for that “fierce spirit of liberty” 
which Burke, the friend of America in Revolutionary days, called 
the American’s chief characteristic. 



10 


Functions :—These early communities were called towns or 
townships, and from them we get the modern name of our smallest 
unit of government in rural districts. The character of its func¬ 
tions has naturally changed somewhat, yet it still constructs and 
repairs roads, looks after the poor, keeps order, and protects 
property. The people now rarely hold deliberative meetings, but 
vote upon propositions submitted to them at the biennial election 
in November. 

Officers :—A body of officers known as the town board com¬ 
posed of the supervisor, town clerk, and the justices of the peace 
frame the propositions to be submitted to the voters and audit the 
accounts of the other town officers. The supervisor is also the 
chief executive officer of the town and acts as its treasurer. The 
town clerk has many duties: to record births, deaths, and mar¬ 
riages ; to grant licenses for hunting and for marriages; to assist 
in the preparations for election, and to look after many other 
minor matters. The duties of assessors and collector are suffici¬ 
ently described in the chapter on taxation, and the duties of the 
election inspectors in the chapter on elections. The overseer of 
the poor has charge of disbursing funds for indoor relief, that is, 
giving aid to the poor in their own homes, and they also turn over 
to the county superintendent of the poor the money for the sup¬ 
port of the town poor in the county home. The superintendent 
of highways has charge of building and keeping in repair certain 
roads in caring for which the town receives state aid. The 
constables keep order and execute the sentences of the justices 
of the peace who are the judicial officers of the town. 


CHAPTER III. 

THE VILLAGE. 

Functions: —The functions of village government are similar 
to those of the town with the addition of certain duties that result 
from the increase of population in a limited area. Communica¬ 
tion must be made easier by means of sidewalks and a greater 
number of roads; health must be maintained by a pure water- 
supply and a sewerage system; life and property must be pro¬ 
tected by a lighting system and by police and fire departments. 

Incorporation :—A community must have at least 200 in¬ 
habitants in order to become an incorporated village, and must 





11 


hold a special election to vote on the question. The state pro¬ 
vides a general form of charter which applies to all villages. In 
order that laws may be passed applying to groups rather than to 
individual villages the state law divides them into four classes ac¬ 
cording to population: 1st class, 5,000 or more; 2nd class, 3,000 
to 5,000; 3rd class, 1,000 to 3,000; 4th class, below 1,000. 

Officers: —The village is still under the jurisdiction of the 
town and the smaller villages frequently have no other police 
officer than a town constable, nor any other judicial officer than 
a justice of the peace, but each maintains a separate street com¬ 
missioner, clerk, treasurer, collector, and sometimes separate 
assessors. The chief executive power is in the hands of a presi¬ 
dent who also has a vote in the board of trustees which is the 
legislative body of the village. All these officials are usually 
chosen at a biennial election in March. 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE CITY. 

Fijnctioxs: —The greater density of population in a city 
brings problems unknown to village life, such as housing condi¬ 
tions, garbage disposal, and granting of franchises to street rail¬ 
ways. The welfare of a city’s population is bound up very close¬ 
ly with its government and its citizens should have a vital and 
intelligent interest in its affiairs. 

Cl asses: —The cities of New York State, as well as the vil¬ 
lages, are divided into classes according to their population: the 
1st class having over 175,000 inhabitants; the 2nd, from 50,000 
to 175,000; the 3rd, below' 50,000. 

Special Law's: —The object of grouping cities in this fash¬ 
ion is to enable the state legislature to pass law's affecting groups 
of cities. When such a measure is passed, before it is sent to the 
governor, it must be sent to the mayor of each city affected by it. 
The mayor has fifteen days to consider the bill, during wliich time 
he must hold a public hearing w'here the people of the city w'ho 
oppose or favor the bill may present their views; he may then 
either reject or accept the bill, but if the legislature is still in 
session, it maj^ be passed by both houses over his veto, and w'ill 
become a law in case it is approved by the governor. 



12 


Home Rule: —The state legislatures have kept control of 
many details of city government. The city of Chicago could not 
prescribe the width of the wagon tires used on its streets without 
the permission of the Illinois legislature, while on the other hand, 
Philadelphia was forced by the Pennsylvania legislature to erect 
a very costly city hall.. Even the salaries of the higher officials 
in many cities in New York State are fixed by state law. Such 
interference has led to a demand on the part of the cities for home 
rule, which was partially met in New York State by the home rule 
bill of 1913 which strengthened the control of the cities over their 
own property and officers. The right to determine the form of 
their government, however, is withheld; consequently any city de¬ 
siring to adopt the commission form of government (*) must 
obtain special permission from the state legislature. 

Charters: —The state prescribes the form of city govern¬ 
ment through the charter granted to each municipality. The 
second-class cities are governed by uniform charters, but in the 
first and third classes each city has its individual charter. 

First Class Cities :-^In New York State there are three 
cities of the first class: New York, Buffalo, and Rochester. The 
form of government of the last named resembles that of a second- 
class city; Buffalo has a commission form of government; while 
New York City, because of its great population, has to have a 
special form of its own. The union of several cities into Greater 
New York gives occasion for the office of borough president as 
executive for each of the five boroughs into which the city is di¬ 
vided. The legislative power is in the hands of these five borough 
presidents, a president of the board of aldermen elected by the 
voters of the entire city, and seventy-three aldermen, each elected 
from a certain district. A board of estimate and apportionment 
consisting of the mayor, comptroller, and president of the board 
of aldermen with three votes each, the presidents of the boroughs 
of Manhattan and Brooklyn with two votes each, and the presi¬ 
dents of the boroughs of tlie Bronx, Richmond, and Queens with 
one vote each, frame the city budget or estimate of expenses for 
the following year which, when passed upon by the board of aider- 
men, becomes the tax levy. The board of estimate and apportion¬ 
ment also has the sole power to grant franchises. 

The mayor is elected by the voters of the whole city, and he 
has a very great appointing power, for the head of each admini- 
strative depar tment is appointed by and responsible to him, except 

*See page 57 



13 


that the comptroller, the head of the finance department, without 
whose order no city funds can be paid out, is elected by the people. 
The b 9 rough presidents who have certain administrative duties, 
each in his own borough, are also elected by the voters of their 
respective boroughs. Some of the most important appointive 
positions are those held by the commissioners of police, fire, chari¬ 
ties, correction, and health. How much the efficiency of the city 
government depends on these heads of departments can be seen 
in the results of Mayor Mitchell’s wise appointments, particularly 
in the case of Police Commissioner Woods. Mayor Mitchell 
placed a woman, Katherine Bcment Davis, at the head of the de¬ 
partment of corrections.^ 

Second Class Cities :—The legislative functions of a second- 
class city are performed by, first, the common council, composed 
of an alderman from each ward and a president elected by all the 
voters, and, second, by a board of estimate and apportionment 
including the mayor, president of the common council, comp¬ 
troller, corporation counsel, and city engineer, with power to 
frame the budget and fix the salaries of all city employees, except 
those paid to its own members which are stated in the city charter. 

The officers who form this board of estimate and apportion¬ 
ment have also individual executive duties. The comptroller, 
treasurer, and assessors, as well the mayor, are elected by the 
voters; the city clerk is chosen by the common council; other 
executive officers are appointed by the mayor, such as the corp¬ 
oration counsel who is the legal adviser of the city government, 
the commissioner of public works, the commissioner of public 
safety who has charge of both police and fire departments, and 
the commissioner of charities. A board of contract and supply 
consisting of the mayor, comptroller, corporation counsel, com¬ 
missioner of public works, and the city engineer lets contracts for 
all work for the city. In this board as in the board of estimate 
and apportionment, the mayor really controls the action since 
he and two members appointed by him form a majority. 

Third Class Cities: —Third-class cities have no uniform 
charter, but in many ways resemble second-class cities except that 
they seldom have either a board of estimate and apportionment or 
a board of contract and supply. 

Every citizen should inform himself as to the details of his 
own city government. Such information he can obtain from the 
corporation counsel or tlie city cleric. 


*See page 33 



u 


CHAPTER V. 

THE COUNTY. 

Origin: —With the growth of population in the colonies the 
people of the towns found that there w'ere certain governmental 
services that the towns could not well perform. They needed 
courts with more authority than the justice of the peace pos¬ 
sessed, yet they did not want to take their cases to the colonial 
courts whose judges were often English appointees. They needed 
roads constructed from one town to another, and groups of towns 
often needed to unite in repelling an attack on the Indians that 
did not affect the whole colony. Thus the county grew up to full- 
fil these functions. 

Functions: —Changing conditions have done away with the 
need for defense, but have continued the duty of the county gov¬ 
ernment in keeping order, protecting life and property, in build¬ 
ing and maintaining roads, and have added the responsibility of 
caring for the poor. 

Officers: —Cities are subject to the jurisdiction of the 
county in which they are located, with the notable exception of 
New York City which embraces four counties within its limits and 
where tlie city government largely supersedes that of the county. 
In other cities each ward elects a supervisor to act on the county 
board of supervisors together with the representatives of the 
towns. Thus the supervisor who is an executive officer, as we 
have seen, in the town becomes a legislative officer of the countv. 
The sheriff is the most important executive officer and is the re¬ 
sponsible agent of the state in keeping order and enforcing the 
decrees of the courts. The records of the county clerk are im¬ 
portant in the protection of property as he must keep a copy of 
all deeds and mortgages. The coroners investigate suspicious 
deatlis and fires. The duties of the district attorney are explained 
in the chapter on the courts. The superintendent of highways 
has supervision over all roads in his county including town roads., 
those known as county roads maintained by the county, and the 
county highways built jointly by state and county. The treas¬ 
urer receives from city treasurers and town collectors the taxes 
due to state and county and passes on the state’s share to the 
state treasurer. The superintendent of the poor has in charge 
the outdoor relief of the poor, or the care of those who cannot 
be maintained in their own homes but must be cared for in a 
county home. All these executive officers serve for a term of 


i 


15 


three years; the supervisor, being a town officer also, has a two- 
year term. The courts described in Chapter VIII. are in some 
ways the most important part of the county government. The 
surrogate is a judicial officer before whom all wills must be pro¬ 
bated, that is, their legality officially approved. He also appoints 
administrators for the estates of persons dying intestate and 
guardians for minor heirs. 

Need for Reform: —The importance of county government 
is often overlooked, and such neglect makes it possible for graft 
and corruption to creep in. The county has been the most im¬ 
pregnable stronghold of machine methods in politics. The vari¬ 
ous jobs in connection with county work, as care of the roads, of 
the poor, and of the jail, are handed about as party rewards to 
political friends of the officials in charge. One improvement has 
been made in many counties in recent years by paying the officers 
a fixed salary instead of the fees which were formerly their per¬ 
quisites but are now turned into the county treasury. The offi¬ 
cers are not responsible to any single head and it is hard to hold 
them to account for the proper performance of their duties. 
Trained sociologists are needed as sheriffs and superintendents 
of the poor, and the superintendents of highways should know the 
technical side of their work. The voters, with all the other 
offices that they have to consider, cannot pick out such experts, 
but allow the county positions, in most cases, to be filled by office¬ 
seeking politicians. 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE STATE. 

Origin :—The governments of the thirteen colonies were en¬ 
tirely independent of each other. The trade laws of the mother 
country restricted their intercolonial commerce, and religious and 
social distinctions and a lack of good roads made it difficult for 
them to know much about one another. Various attempts at 
union were made before the Revolution, but there was no common 
interest strong enough to smother their mutual jealousy and dis¬ 
trust. The changed policy of England toward her colonies with 
the accession of George HI was sufficient, however, to force them 
to unite and make common cause against the mother country. 
With the close of the Revolution there was no vital bond of union 



16 


left, and the old suspicions and rivalries flared up afresh. The 
federal government was a weak “league of friendship,” and each 
state insisted on retaining certain sovereign powers, and on dis¬ 
regarding the rights of its neighbors, until they were finally per¬ 
suaded, as a result of the Federal Convention held in Philadelphia 
in 1787, to delegate certain important functions of mutual inter¬ 
est to a central government. 

Functions: —When the present national government was 
formed, therefore, it was given quite definite and somewhat limited 
powers, while the rest of the governmental functions were left to 
be performed by the states. These are so varied it is difficult to 
enumerate them, but some of the most important are: the regu¬ 
lation and control of business, the enforcement of civil and crim¬ 
inal law, the control of suffrage and elections, the maintenance of 
health, the promotion of education, and the construction of 
highways. 

Constitution :—This variety of functions makes necessary a 
lengthy body of fundamental law. Perhaps some matters included 
in the constitution of New York State might better have been left 
in the control of the legislature; yet we have not gone so far in 
this respect as have some of the other states where distrust of the 
legislature is even greater. The constitution of New York State 
includes: a “bill of rights,” an enumeration of the civil rights of 
citizens; a section on suffrage and the conduct of elections; the 
framework of government; a great number of miscellaneous pro¬ 
visions. 

In 1926, and at any other time that the legislature may set, 
the question of calling a convention to revise the constitution is 
to be submitted to the voters. Amendments may be made if 
passed by the legislature in two separate sessions when an election 
of state senators has intervened, and if accepted by the voters 
when submitted to them. 

Legislature: —The state legislature consists of two houses, 
a senate of fifty members and an assembly of one hundred fifty. 
In every year ending in five a state census is taken, and the popu¬ 
lation is divided by fifty to find the ratio of representation for 
a senator, by one hundred fifty to find the ratio for an assembly- 
man. The legislature then proceeds to divide the state into fifty 
districts, each containing as nearly as may be the ratio for a 
senator. No city block or town may be divided and no part 
of one county added to another. The preponderance in power of 


17 


New York City over the rest of the state is guarded against by 
forbidding any one county to have over one-third, or any two 
adjoining counties over one-half of the senators. This makes it 
possible, however, at times to force on New York City legislation 
distasteful to its people. Furthermore if a county which has had 
three or more senators has grown sufficiently in population since 
the last census to deserve another senator, that senator shall be 
added to the total number; hence, since 1907 we have had fifty-one 
senators, for Kinsfs County fulfilled this condition after the 
census of 1905. The division into assemblv districts is made by 
the board of supervisors of each county. The term of a senator 
is two years, of an assemblyman, one. 

The annual session of the legislature begins the first Wednes¬ 
day in January. The first business is the organization of the 
two houses, and party caucuses are held to determine who shall 
have the important positions, chief of which is the speakership of 
the assembly which is filled by the chosen leader of the majority 
party. In each house also numerous standing committees are 
formed, each to consider some particular subject of legislation, 
and the chairmanships of some of these are eagerly sought after. 
The speaker names the committee members in the assembly and the 
lieutenant-governor those in the senate, but the membership of 
each is divided between the parties and the party caucuses have 
much influence in the appointments. Some of the more import¬ 
ant committees are those on rules, finance, affairs of cities, insur¬ 
ance, railroads, education, forestry. The procedure of the state 
legislature is similar to that of Congress and is described in 
Chapter X. 

The popular distrust of the legislature has been referred to 
before. It is largely due to the fact that the voters have been 
careless or indifferent about the choice of their legislators and so 
have not been worthily represented, and it arises also from the 
observation of the amount of time wasted during the sessions. 
The existence of two houses was supposed to check hasty legis¬ 
lation, but its present effect seems to be more to delay the passage 
of good laws and to waste time in the consideration of bad ones. 
Every member wants to present a bill to prove to his constituents 
that he is taking an active part in legislation, and there is much 
‘‘log-rolling” (“You vote for my bill and I’ll vote for yours”) to 
benefit private or local interests. Some students of political con¬ 
ditions advocate the establishment of one fairly small legislative 
house, and if the voters would exercise greater care in the choice 
of its members, this might do away with some of the present evils. 


18 


Executive Department: —The executive department is not 
organized and centralized like that of the city or the nation. The 
governor is supposed to be the head, but the people elect several 
other officials, and matters of administration are not grouped 
into departments with responsible heads as in the other units of 
government. Besides the governor the people elect the lieutenant- 
governor, the secretary of state, the comptroller, the attorney- 
general, the treasurer, and the state engineer and surveyor. The 
advocates of the short ballot (*) advise the elimination of all 
these offices from the general ticket, except perhaps the lieutenant- 
governor and the comptroller, in order to centralize the admini¬ 
strative authority in the governor’s hands and make it possible 
to hold him alone responsible for executive acts. His power to 
enforce laws is, of course, exercised through the officials whom he 
appoints and whom he may also remove. He may recommend 
to the senate the removal of the elective executive officers. He is 
commander-in-chief of the state militia and may use these troops 
to enforce order. 

The governor has certain important legislative powers as 
well. His veto power is explained in Chapter X. He may call 
a special session of the legislature in which the members can take 
up no matter except what he recommends. In this way Governor 
Hughes forced through the anti-race-track-gambling bills. The 
suggestions in the governor’s annual message in the regular ses¬ 
sion carry much weight unless the majority of the legislators are 
of the opposite party. The people are coming more and more 
to hold the governor responsible for legislation that they want as 
well as for a wise administration of the laws. The governor’s 
only judicial power is that of pardoning criminals or of commut¬ 
ing sentences. 

The lieutenant-governor presides over the senate and is 
ex-officio member of a number of important administrative boards. 
He must act as chief executive in case of the absence or dis¬ 
ability of the governor. The secretary of state is the chief clerk. 
He grants charters to corporations, issues licenses for automo¬ 
biles, has general charge of elections and many other duties. The 
comptroller signs all warrants for the treasurer to pay out the 
state’s funds. The attorney-general is the legal adviser of all 
state officials. The state engineer and surveyor prepares maps 
and surveys of state land and superintends the engineering work 
on the state canals. 

*See page 40 





19 


The officers appointed by the governor vary with the needs 
of the time. Since there is no limit to the scope of state powers 
except those functions definitely granted to the national govern¬ 
ment it is evident that, with the development of business and a 
growing realization that government regulation is for the people’s 
welfare, additional officers will be needed from time to time to 
administer new legislation. Some of the most important ap¬ 
pointive positions are superintendent of banks, superintendent of 
insurance, superintendent of prisons, commissioner of health, 
commissioner of labor, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner 
of excise. The subordinates in these departments are in many 
cases appointed as a result of civil service examinations held 
under the direction of a civil service commission the members of 
which are appointed by the governor. Under Governor Hughes 
two public service commissions were established, one for New 
York City, the other for the rest of the state. These have 
rendered great service by their regulation for the general welfare 
of steam and electric lines, lighting systems, telegraph and tele¬ 
phone companies. It should be the pride of every governor to 
maintain the high standards of appointment to these positions 
set by Governor Hughes. 


CHAPTER VII. 

THE NATION. 

Functions: —The National Constitution (’'^) reflects the 
hard experiences of the thirteen states and shows the wisdom of 
the men who framed it in what they left out, as well as in what 
they put in. The delegates who met at the Federal Convention 
in Philadelphia “to form a more perfect union” were among the 
ablest men in the countr 3 \ Realizing the greatest difficulties of 
the struggling national government and the most pressing needs 
of the time they wrote first among the powers of the new govern¬ 
ment the right to raise its own revenue, so that it need depend 
no longer on voluntary contributions from the states, and the 
right to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, thus doing 
away with the chief cause of rivalry between the states. Other 
sovereign powers which could not well be left to the states were: 
control of naturalization, establishment of a coinage and a postal 

*A copy of the Constitution may be found in any school textbook in 
civics or American History. 




20 


system, maintenance of an army and navy and right to declare 
war. A national system of courts, which the previous confedera¬ 
tion had entirely lacked, was established. Early in the nineteenth 
century, through its great Chief Justice, John Marshall, the im¬ 
portant power of deciding on the constitutionality of laws was 
acquired by the Supreme Court. Another great service per¬ 
formed by the Supreme Court has been in upholding the doctrine 
of implied powers derived from the so-called elastic clause in the 
Constitution which gives to Congress the power ‘‘to make all laws 
which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution 
the foregoing powers.” Many of the most important acts of our 
government have been based on this clause, for example, the gov¬ 
ernment operation of the railroads to “carry into execution” their 
power to raise and support armies, and it is on the whole far 
better that the framers of the Constitution did not attempt to be 
explicit in enumerating every detailed funcion, but through this 
elastic clause made possible the development of the government 
to meet new duties and unforeseen crises. The ultimate sovereignty 
of the people, moreover, is emphasized in the Constitution, and 
it is possible to give additional powers to the national govern¬ 
ment by amendments proposed by Congress and accepted by 
three-fourths of the states. The process of amendment has been 
criticised as being too difficult, but the fundamental law should 
not be lightly changed, and it has always been found possible 
to obtain the required ratifications when a vital need has arisen. 
Some of the states refused to ratify the original Constitution 
unless a guarantee of the civil rights of the people was added. 
This resulted in the immediate adoption of the first ten amend¬ 
ments. The eleventh amendment is an evidence of the lingering 
jealousy among the states and their fear that the national gov¬ 
ernment would usurp some of their rights, for it forbids a suit 
being brought against a state by an individual in a United States 
court. Each state provides a court of its own where such cases 
may be tried. The twelfth amendment was adopted to prevent 
such a situation as arose when Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson, 
both Democratic Republicans, received the same number of elec¬ 
toral votes (*) when the intention was to make Burr Vice-presi¬ 
dent and Jefferson President. The amendment provided that 
thereafter each elector should designate which of his two votes 
was cast for President and which for Vice-president. This has 
resulted very often in the choice of a man for Vice-president who 
is scarcely of presidential caliber, a dangerous practice in view 


*See page 39 



21 


of the fact that of the twenty-three different men who have been 
elected to the presidency five have been unable to complete their 
full terms. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments 
deal with the emancipation and the rights of the negroes. The 
sixteenth amendment permits Congress to levy an income tax.(*) 
The seventeenth amendment provides for the election of 
United States Senators by popular vote.(**) An amendment 
for national prohibition has been proposed by Congress and is 
awaiting ratification by the states. The Constitution provides 
that an amendment shall be ratified by the legislature of a State 
or by a convention especially called for the purpose. If the New 
York State legislature had succeeded in passing the resolutio?i 
referring the question of ratifying the prohibition amendment to 
the people, the popular vote would not have been final, but the re¬ 
sponsibility of ratifying or failing to ratify would still have rested 
with the legislature. 

Legislatuke: —There are several reasons why we have a 
legislative body of two houses in our national government: first, 
the historical precedents of England’s House of Lords and House 
of Commons and the existence of bicameral legislatures in ten out 
of the thirteen colonies; second, the belief that the passage of a 
bill though two houses will prevent hasty and ill-considered legis¬ 
lation; third, the quarrel between the delegates of the large and 
the small states in the Federal Convention, the latter desiring 
equal representation of the states, and the former, representation 
according to population. Through a compromise it was arranged 
that two Senators, each with a six-year term, should be elected 
from each state and that the representatives in the lower house 
who have terms of two years should be apportioned among the 
states according to population. The Congressional districts are 
determined by the state legislatures, and at the time of a new 
apportionment the party in power is usually accused, and some¬ 
times not without reason, by the party in the minority of gerry¬ 
mandering or arranging the districts so that a majority of the 
representatives elected will be of their own party. 

The number in the House of Representatives has been 
changed from time to time until it contains at present four 
hundred thirty-five members, (New York is entitled to forty- 
three)—too unwieldy a body for real debate. The presiding 
officer is the speaker, a member nominally elected by the house, 
actually the choice of the majority party caucus. His powers 


*See page 45 **See page 22 



22 


were so great at one time that he was second only to the Presi¬ 
dent, but his prerogatives have been greatly reduced. His former 
power to name the members of committees has been removed since 
these appointments are virtually decided upon in the party cau¬ 
cus and voted upon by the house. He is no longer chairman of 
the committee on rules, a position by which he was able to de¬ 
cide what bills should be taken up, but he still retains the power 
to refer bills to committees and to recognize or refuse to recognize 
any member who desires to speak, and in this way he still has 
some control over the measures to be discussed. Each party 
chooses its floor leader who directs the debate on the measures 
before the house. Speeches of individual members have to be 
limited by the rules but a member may get “leave to print” his 
speech in the Congressional Record, the official report of the 
proceedings, for the benefit of his constituency. There are over 
fifty standing committees; the most important are those on rules 
and on ways and means; others are on commerce, military affairs, 
naval affairs, banking and currency, rivers and harbors. The 
committee system is a time-saving device, the adoption of which 
has been due to the unwieldiness of the house for the practical 
business of legislation, yet it prevents harmony in legislation 
and makes extravagance possible; for while the ways and means 
committee prepares all revenue bills there are seventeen other 
committees each proposing expenditures without reference to 
each other or to the amount of revenue to be raised. This shows 
the need for the adoption of a true budget system, such as the 
English House of Commons has, where the cabinet prepares an 
estimate of the money needed for the coming year, and the house 
may accept or reject it as a whole or may decrease certain items, 
but has no power to make any increases. This would be a much 
more business-like and economical way of financing our govern¬ 
ment than the present “pork-barrel” method, where each member 
of Congress tries to get some special benefit for his particular 
district through the committees to which he belongs. 

The Senators were originally regarded as representatives of 
the state governments, not of the people, and so were elected by 
the state legislatures, but the growth of democratic feeling led to 
a demand for their popular election which resulted in the adoption 
of the seventeenth amendment to the Constitution in 1913. Our 
forefathers feared a monarchy, but they also distrusted democ¬ 
racy, and the Senate was made a permanent body to guard 
against the fickleness of the popular will by having one-third of 
its members elected every two years. This was no doubt wise in 


23 


view of the fact that the Senate was to have a voice in foreign 
affairs through its duty of ratifying treaties, for a nation needs 
a consistent foreign policy to retain the respect of other govern¬ 
ments. The Senate also controls the President through its right 
to confirm his appointments. 

A president pro tempore is chosen from the majority party 
in the Senate to preside in place of the Vice-president in case of 
his absence or disability. Each Senator is a member of from six 
to eight committees, the membership being divided proportionally 
between the majority and minority parties. The appointments 
are made in party caucus, and the chairmanship in each case is 
given to that member of the majority party who has served 
longest on that particular committee. This custom leads at 
times to peculiar situations as when Senator Stone, who opposed 
war with Germany, was chairman of the foreign relations com¬ 
mittee in 1917. The committees correspond generally to those 
in the House, except that the importance of the foreign relations 
committee is far greater. The Senate prides itself on allowing 
full freedom of debate which has its obvious advantages; but the 
custom is sometimes abused by the practice of ‘‘filibustering” 
on the part of the minority party, that is, by unduly prolonging 
the debate by long-drawn-out speeches to prevent a final vote 
being taken. Such was the action of the “group of wilful men” 
in March, 1917, on the armed ship bill. 

Executive Department: —Because of their hatred of the 
tyranny of George III., the framers of the Constitution tried 
to surround the office of President with limitations that would 
prevent his becoming an autocrat. He can administer the gov¬ 
ernment only through appointees agreeable to the Senate; he can 
make no agreements with foreign nations except with the Senate’s 
consent; he may be impeached by the House of Representatives 
and tried by the Senate for “treason, bribery, or other high 
crimes and misdemeanors,” and, if convicted by a two-thirds 
vote of the Senate, may be removed from office. Yet the Presi¬ 
dent of the United States today exercises more power than the 
head of any other country except Germany. The executive func¬ 
tions are divided into ten departments through which he enforces 
the laws. By his use of the message and veto power he has very 
« great control over legislation, for, if the President is of the same 
party as the majority of the members in Congress, the recom¬ 
mendations he embodies in his messages become virtually the 
legislative program, and, in any case, the threat of a veto will 


24 


cause Congress either to abandon, or at least to modify its meas¬ 
ures. The right of the Senate to confirm the President’s ap¬ 
pointments has grown into a power to recommend men for posi¬ 
tions so that the President is accustomed to consult with Senators 
from a given state, if they are of his party, about appointments 
within that state. This is known as “senatorial courtesy.” Con¬ 
sequently office-seekers within the states look to their Senators 
for aid in attaining their objects, and the senatorial patronage 
has come to be a powerful political asset, making the Senators 
recognized leaders of their state party organizations. The Presi¬ 
dents, realizing this, have perceived a weapon by which they can 
force through their legislative programs in the withholding of 
patronage, that is, by the refusal to appoint the men recom¬ 
mended by the Senators opposing the measures desired by the 
President. The President has much influence over the courts 
also by his appointment of judges and his pardoning power. 

The President’s cabinet is not mentioned by name in the 
Constitution, but in the enumeration of his powers we read “he 
may require the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each 
of the executive departments upon any subject relating to the 
duties of their respective offices.” Washington, however, began 
the custom, ever since followed, of holding cabinet meetings and 
consulting with the department heads as a body, as well as indi¬ 
vidually, in regard to the policies he should follow. The sugges¬ 
tion has often been made that, if cabinet members were given 
seats in one or the other of the houses of Congress with power to 
speak but not to vote, there would be greater harmony between 
the legislative and executive departments, that greater economy 
would result, inasmuch as it would tend toward the establishment 
of a budget system, and that wiser laws might be enacted. There 
is much to be said in favor of this idea, but Congress, jealous of 
executive interference, has opposed it, and the great drain on the 
time of the cabinet officers that it would entail presents a serious 
obstacle to its adoption. 

Through the state department the President conducts all 
peaceful negotiations with foreign countries. In case a treaty 
is to be made with a certain country, the secretary of state con¬ 
fers with the ambassador of that country in Washington in re¬ 
gard to the terms, or empowers our ambassador to that country 
to conduct the negotiations. A treaty is not valid, however, * 
unless ratified by two-thirds of the Senate. All diplomatic officers 
and consuls are subject to the direction of the state department. 

One diplomatic officer with his staff is sent to the capital of each 


25 


country, his rank as ambassador or minister being determined by 
the importance of the country, but a consul is stationed in each 
important foreign city to promote our trade, protect American 
citizens, assist in administering our customs, health and immi¬ 
gration laws, and gather information valuable to the business 
interests of the United States. Some Presidents have regarded 
both diplomatic and consular offices as rich spoil for deserving 
members of their party, but Presidents Roosevelt and Taft re¬ 
quired civil service examinations for the subordinate positions 
and filled the higher places by promotion. One -writer suggests 
the establishment of a school which would prepare men for diplo¬ 
matic service as West Point trains men for the army. A need for 
some such reform is shown in the fact that the United States has 
at times been represented even in some of the larger capitals by 
men who could not speak the language of the country. Further¬ 
more, due to the penuriousness of Congress, the United States 
does not own embassies and consulates in foreign cities so that 
the rental of residences and offices has to come out of a salary 
none too large, and this has made it necessary to send abroad 
men with an independent income, an undemocratic custom. 

The treasury department has charge of the collection of 
revenue, the custody of funds, the banking and currency system, 
and various miscellaneous functions such as the life-saving serv¬ 
ice, health service, the construction of public buildings, and the 
secret service whose original duty was to detect counterfeiting. 
The secretary of the treasury is head of the Federal Reserve 
Board which has charge of our national banking system. The 
country is divided into twelve districts each of which has a fed¬ 
eral reserve bank located in some important city. All national 
banks must, and other banks may, belong to this system. 
In case a member bank needs money the federal reserve bank of 
its district will issue to it federal reserve notes in return for se¬ 
curity offered by the member bank in the shape of promissory 
notes or drafts received by it in the course of its business. This 
makes the currency of the country elastic by increasing the 
amount in circulation in time of need. The stability in American 
financial circles during the Great War has been due in no small 
measure to the existence of this system. 

The war and navy departments are in charge of civilians, 
but the operations of the army are under the direction of a gen¬ 
eral staff who are responsible to the secretary of war. The Presi¬ 
dent is, according to the Constitution, commander-in-chief of the 
army and navy. 


26 


The department of justice is in charge of the attorney-gen¬ 
eral who is the legal adviser of President and cabinet and repre¬ 
sents the United States in cases to which it is a party. 

The duties of the post office department are familiar to all. 
In spite of the fact that it is an efficiently organized department, 
it runs up an annual deficit. This is due, in large part, to the 
franking privilege of members of Congress. They may send 
through the mails free all correspondence connected with their 
duties and printed matter for the benefit of their constituents. 
This privilege is often abused so that private correspondence is 
sent in franked envelopes, and the mails are flooded with speeches 
of members, pamphlets, packages of seeds, etc., sent in the hope 
of winning votes. A business-like system' lof 0 ,ccounting for 
franked mail and charging it up to Congress would make a 
better showing for the finances of the post office department. 

The services of the department of the interior are very 
comprehensive and they often affect individuals more closely than 
the other departments. The public land policy which has done so 
much to develop the country is administered through the land 
office of this department. The reclamation service has had 
charge of the vast irrigation works in the west. Pensions and. 
patents are also looked after by this department. 

It was through the forest service of the department of agri¬ 
culture that the people of the United States were first awakened 
to the need of conserving their natural resources. Other bureaus 
of this department do much to promote the industry of agri¬ 
culture. 

The department of commerce includes the census bureau and 
administers many matters relating to the safety and promotion 
of domestic and foreign commerce. 

The department of labor enforces immigration and naturali¬ 
zation laws. Miss Julia Lathrop, appointed director of the chil¬ 
dren’s bureau by President Wilson and the first woman to hold 
an important position under the National government, has done 
much to prevent infant mortality and to abolish child labor. 

The greater efficiency of the National executive department 
as compared with that of the states is due to its splendid organi¬ 
zation. The Senate never refuses to confirm the appointments 
that the President makes for his cabinet as it is essential that 
there should be harmony in the President’s official family. It is 
the duty of the President to place in these high offices men of the 
highest executive ability, with at least some knowledge of and a 
vital interest in the duties of their departments. 


27 


It has been found advisable to create certain commissions 
with administrative power over matters that require expert knowl¬ 
edge and a continued policy, not changing with each administra¬ 
tion. The members of these commissions are appointed by the 
President with the consent of the Senate. 

The civil service commission was the first of these to be 
established. Its duties are to provide examinations for positions 
in the national service. The President, through his appointing 
power, may order that certain classes of positions shall be filled 
as a result of these examinations. Presidents Cleveland, Roose¬ 
velt, and Taft greatly increased the number of offices filled in this 
way, but a President may revoke these orders at any time. 
IMost Presidents, however, have welcomed the relief from the 
burden of political appointments. 

The interstate commerce commission has been of the greatest 
benefit to the country as a whole. The railroads, harassed by 
the conflicting regulations of the states, have, as a rule, welcomed 
the fair decisions of the commission as to rates and other require¬ 
ments, while the public have found justice instead of unfair dis¬ 
crimination. 

The purpose of the federal trade commission is to have such 
oversight and control of manufacturing concerns as the inter¬ 
state commerce commission has over common carriers. 

The formation of the United States Shipping Board shows 
that the country has at last awakened to the need of an American 
merchant marine which the board is taking steps to develop. 

The need for and duties of the tariff commission are discussed 
in Chapter XI. 

It has been suggested that immigration could be restricted 
more wisely by the regulations of an expert commission than by 
general laws passed by Congress. 

The growth of these commissions in number and in powers 
is one of the most interesting developments in our national gov¬ 
ernment, showing an increasing appreciation of the value of 
expert service and disinterested action for the public welfare. 


28 


CHAPTER VIIL 

COURTS AND THE TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS. 

Every country of the western world owes a debt to ancient 
Rome for many of its legal terms and customs. The practice 
of allowing a debtor thirty days’ grace can be traced to Rome’s 
first written code in 450 B. C. Yet most of our laws are English 
in their direct origin. After the Declaration of Independence 
the states passed resolutions adopting English common law, that 
is, customary, not written law. Our statute or written laws have 
naturally come to differ in many respects from the English code, 
but our courts are rapidly falling into the same state of emphasis 
on technicalities and delay of justice described in Dickens’ Bleak 
House, because we have not followed England’s example in simpli¬ 
fying^ our court procedure. A few terms must be explained in 
order to make the rest of the chapter clear. There are two gen¬ 
eral classes of cases brought before a court, civil and criminal; 
a criminal case results from the violation of a law, a civil suit 
arises from a dispute over property, over facts, or over the mean¬ 
ing of a law. Serious crimes are known as felonies, petty vio¬ 
lations of the law as misdemeanors. Since a crime is an offense 
against the whole community all criminal cases are entitled 
The People of the State against John Doe (a fictitious name used 
as a substitute for the name of a criminal). A civil suit is one 
between two persons and may be one of two kinds, a lawsuit where 
a jury hears the case, or a suit in equity where the decision must 
rest on common law and a judge alone renders the verdict. A 
court is said to have original jurisdiction when the first trial of 
a certain kind of case is brought before it, appellate jurisdiction 
when cases appealed from a lower court are tried. 

Courts and Their Jurisdiction: —The jurisdiction of the 
national courts is defined in the Constitution as covering cases 
in which the United States is a party, those affecting diplomatic 
and consular officers, disputes between the states, and violations 
of federal law. The state in its own courts tries interpretations 
and violations of its own laws, disputes over property within its 
boundaries, and cases where it is sued by citizens of another state. 

The Supreme Court of the United States was established by 
the Constitution, and at present consists of nine justices ap¬ 
pointed by the President with the consent of the Senate for a life 
term, removable only by impeachment by the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives and conviction by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. 


29 


Most of its jurisdiction is appellate and is concerned with the 
interpretation of laws, but it has the original hearing of cases 
involving diplomatic and consular officers. All other national 
courts have been created by act of Congress with judges chosen 
and removable in a similar way. There are eighty-one federal 
district courts with entirely original jurisdiction; a circuit court 
of appeals with only appellate jurisdiction; a customs court to 
hear disputes arising from the collection of customs duties; and 
a court of claims to settle claims gainst the government. 

The judges in New York State are all elected by the people 
of their respective districts. Their terms are limited, though 
longer than those of the executive or legislative officers. The 
personnel of the federal courts has always been higher than the 
state judiciary, and this lends force to the argument that a single 
executive is better qualified to pick able judges than the voters. 
The lowest courts in New York State are the municipal courts 
and the court of the justice of the peace in rural districts. These 
hold preliminary hearings, (*) try misdemeanors, violations of 
local laws, and disputes over property of not more than $200 
value. Cases may be appealed from these courts to iihe county 
court which has also original jurisdiction in all criminal cases 
except murder and in civil cases involving property up to $2,000 
value. Murder cases and more important civil cases are tried 
by the supreme court judges of the state who have original juris¬ 
diction and who go on circuit, holding their hearings at the dif¬ 
ferent county-seats. Appeals are taken from the county and 
supreme courts to the appellate division of the state supreme 
court which has no other jurisdiction, and a case may be appealed 
further from this court to the Court of Appeals, the highest 
tribunal in the state and the court of last resort in the inter¬ 
pretation of laws. _____ 

Civin Procedure: —The commonest kind of a lawsuit is a 
suit for damages. Let us sup^yose that Mr. A. is injured in a 
street-car accident and sues the company for $1,500. Mr. A. as 
plaintiff will enter a complaint against the company in the 
county court. The judge orders the sheriff to serve a summons 
on the company. If the company does not answer this summons 
by sending a representative to court at the time set, the case 
will go against it by default and it will have to pay the amount 
sued for. In case the company answers the summons, it will, as 
defendant, enter a plea, or denial of A’s right to damages. If 


♦See page 30 



30 


both parties and the judge are willing to dispense with a jury, 
the judge hears the facts in the case and renders judgment; if a 
jury is impaneled (*) it will decide whether A. should receive 
damages or not, while the judge instructs the jury as to the laws 
governing the case. It is the duty of the sheriff to see that the 
judgment is executed in case the decision is in favor of the plain¬ 
tiff. An example of an equity case would be if A. should enter 
a complaint that B. was damming up a stream upon which A’s 
cattle depend for their water supply. It is necessary for the 
judge to ascertain the facts, and he then renders a decision called 
a decree. 

Criminal Procedure :—To make the explanation of a crim¬ 
inal case more definite let us take a case of arson and imagine 
that a building has been burned under suspicious circumstances. 
It is the duty of the peace officers (constables, policemen, or 
sheriff) to procure evidence pointing to some person as the of¬ 
fender. They then obtain from a judge a warrant for the arrest 
of the person described in the document. They may arrest with¬ 
out a warrant if the evidence against a person is strong enough. 
When the arrest is made the peace officer takes his prisoner before 
a judge, usually a justice of the peace or a city judge since their 
courts hold daily sessions, for a preliminary hearing. This is 
simply for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is evidence 
enough against the prisoner to hold him for trial. If the judge 
decides the evidence is not sufficient, the man is set free; if it is, 
the judge, at his own discretion, may send the man to jail (called 
commitment) or let him out on hail. The amount of bail is de¬ 
termined by the judge. Just before the time set for the next 
session of the county court (for a case of arson wmuld be tried 
there), it is the duty of the district attorney, a law^yer elected by 
the people to represent them in criminal cases, to present to the 
grand jury the evidence which he has been gathering against the 
man accused of arson and all other accused persons held for trial. 
The grand jury is a body of from sixteen to tw'enty-three men 
chosen by lot from a list furnished by the supervisors containing 
the names of the tax-payers of good character in the county. 
This action of the district attorney is called the presentment and 
the document containing the record of the evidence is called a 
bill of indictment. The grand jury hears the evidence against 
the accused person, rarely calling either the man himself or wit¬ 
nesses in his favor before them. If they decide by majority vote 


♦See page 31 


31 


that the evidence is sufficient to hold him for trial, the foreman 
(one of their number chosen by themselves) writes across the face 
of the bill of indictment the words “a true bill,” and the man is 
said to have been indicted by the grand jury; if they find the 
evidence insufficient to hold him, the words ‘‘not a true bill” are 
written on the document and the man is set free or released from 
bail, though another bill of indictment against him may be pre¬ 
sented to the grand jury if the district attorney finds further 
evidence. As soon as the court is in session, a man under indict¬ 
ment may be arraigned before the judge, which consists of reading 
to him the charges against him, and he is then given the chance 
to make a plea of “guilty” or “not guilty.” If he pleads “guilty” 
he is at once sentenced by the judge, but a lighter penalty is 
usually inflicted than at the end of a trial. If he pleads “not 
guilty” a time is set on the court calendar for his case to be 
heard. If he is too poor to hire a lawyer one is assigned him by 
the court to collect evidence and present the case for the defense. 
The need of the poor for proper counsel has led in some states 
to the election of an official attorney for the defense. At the 
time set for the trial, a trial or petit jury is impaneled. The 
county clerk draws from a box containing, on separate slips of 
paper, the names of all tax-payers in the county a panel of 
twenty-four names (or thirty-six, if the case has excited much 
interest), and a subpoena is served by the sheriff on each of these 
men as an order to appear in court. A subpoena differs from 
a summons in that it must be obeyed. Some persons are exempted 
from jury duty by their occupation, for example, a physician or 
a fireman; others are excused for ill health or occasionally for 
urgent private business. The men who appear in answer to 
the subpoena may be excused for these reasons, or they will be 
dismissed if, when questioned by the district attorney or lawyer 
for the defense, they show any prejudice on one side or other of 
the case. This practice has an unfortunate result in that the 
men finally sworn in as jurors are often of the less intelligent 
class who do not keep themselves informed by reading the news¬ 
papers. In a case that has received wide newspaper notice it is 
sometimes necessary to call several panels before twelve unpre¬ 
judiced men can be found, thus adding to the cost of the trial as 
well as to the delay in justice. It will be seen that the trial jury 
and the grand jury differ in five particulars: first, the trial jurors 
are chosen from all the taxpayers, the grand jurors only from 
those whose character is attested by the supervisors; second, the 
grand jury consists of from sixteen to twenty-three men, the trial 


jury of only twelve; third, the grand jury hears only evidence 
against a person and decides whether he shall be held for trial or 
not, while the trial jury hears evidence on both sides and decides 
whether he is guilty or innocent; fourth, the grand jury hears 
evidence in all the criminal cases for that term of court, while a 
separate trial jury is impaneled for each case; fifth, the grand 
jury requires only a majority for its decisions, but a trial jury 
must render a unanimous verdict. Jury duty is not a pleasant 
way of serving one’s government, but under our present system 
of laws it is a necessary one. Undoubtedly women will soon be 
called upon to assume this burden of citizenship in New York as 
they have been in other states. Each juror who is accepted by 
both prosecution and defense takes an oath to render fair judg¬ 
ment and when twelve have been thus sworn in, the prisoner is 
brought in and the case is opened by the district attorney who 
calls witnesses to prove the guilt of the accused person. Each 
witness may be cross-examined by the lawyer for the defense in 
the hope of making the witness contradict himself or of bringing 
out some point favorable to his client. After all the evidence 
for the prosecution is in, the defense calls its witnesses who may 
be in turn cross-examined by the district attorney. Then the 
district attorney and the prisoner’s lawyer each in turn makes a 
speech summing up the evidence and laying emphasis on certain 
points he wishes the jury to notice. The judge’s charge to the 
jury follows in which he explains the law governing the case, and 
he, too, may point out certain items of importance in the evidence, 
often thereby showing how he thinks the case should be decided. 
The jury retire to deliberate and they must hold no communica¬ 
tion with any other person than the sheriff until their unanimous 
verdict is rendered which must be either “guilty” or “not guilty.” 
If the jury fails to agree a new jury must be impaneled and the 
evidence heard again. The expense and delay in justice due to the 
requirement of a unanimous verdict have led to a movement for its 
abolition except in murder cases. If the jury renders a verdict 
of “not guilty” tho prisoner is set free and cannot again be tried 
for the same offense; if the verdict is “guilty” it is the duty of the 
judge to sentence the prisoner, that is, apply to his case the 
penalty provided in the law. Modern legislation allows the 
judge discretion in laying a maximum or a minimum penalty in 
a given case, and also permits him to give a so-called indeterminate 
sentence, that is, the prisoner may by good behavior shorten his 
term of imprisonment. 


33 


The New Penology :—The indeterminate sentence is merely 
one indication of the change in attitude toward the criminal. The 
modern purpose of punishment is not to take vengeance on the 
criminal for his offense, but to create in him the desire to serve 
ratlier than to injure society. 

Thomas Mott Osborne has performed a great service in mak¬ 
ing people see that the criminal is not a different order of being 
from the rest of humanity, but a person who has been affected by 
bad influences which society should remove, and who can be 
reclaimed by the proper appeal to his sense of honor and right. 
Through the Mutual Welfare Leagues established by him in 
Auburn and Sing Sing State Prisons and in Portsmouth Naval 
Prison, and through similar honor systems in other penal insti¬ 
tutions, a sense of responsibility and a desire for good citizenship 
have been awakened in hundreds of men in whom the old penal 
system would have aroused only a desire for revenge upon society. 
“Evil always makes more noise than the good,” and the news¬ 
papers print glaring headlines of the escape or revolt of the few 
under the honor system, but make no mention of the hundreds 
reclaimed to lives of usefulness and uprightness. 

The growth of the probation idea is another indication of 
the new penology. It was first used with first offenders in cases 
of misdemeanors. They were required to report at certain inter¬ 
vals to the judge or to a probation officer. Now the system is 
extended to those who are released from prison under the inde¬ 
terminate sentence. Katherine Bement Davis, in her work at 
Bedford Reformatory for women, and as Commissioner of Cor¬ 
rections in New York City, and in her service on the Board of 
Parole of that city, has proved the value of probation in helping 
the offender to become a useful member of the community. If 
the probation officer is of the right sort he (or in many cases she) 
can render great service to the ex-convict in his readjustment in 
society. 

Judge Ben Lindsey of Denver, Colorado, is a pioneer in 
another movement of the greatest importance in the prevention 
of crime, that is, the juvenile court. Every up-to-date city has 
at least a separate session of court for juvenile offenders where 
they cannot come in contact with adult criminals, and some cities 
have a special judge particularly qualified for dealing with chil¬ 
dren, like Judge Lindsey himself. Probation rather than punish¬ 
ment is the usual result of a trial in such a court, but for par¬ 
ticularly difficult cases institutions are being established, generally 
in the country, where boys and girls are shown the satisfaction 


34 


resulting from honest work, and may learn how to live on good 
terms with their neighbors, which is the essence of good citizen¬ 
ship. One of the pioneer institutions of this kind is the George 
Junior Republic at Freeville, New York. William R. George, 
the founder, has written a book telling of the steps in its growth 
and how he early learned the wisdom of keeping his hands off and 
letting the citizens of the republic learn through hard experience 
the best ways to govern themselves. 


CHAPTER IX. 

SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS. 

Power of the States: —The National Constitution gives 
to the states the right to determine suffrage qualifications by the 
following clause referring to the House of Representatives: “The 
electors (i. e. voters) in each state shall have the qualifications 
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state 
legislature.” The only limitations put by the national govern¬ 
ment upon this right so far have been the fourteenth and fifteenth 
amendments to the Constitution forcing the states to give the 
negro the suffrage. 

Qualifications :—The qualifications for voting set by New 
York State are: (1) citizenship for at least ninety da 3 ^s prior 
to the election; (2) a minimum age limit of twenty-one; (3) 
residence in the state for a 3 "ear, in the county four months, in 
the election district (city ward or town) thirty days; (4) 
registration. The reason for the requirement preventing those 
naturalized within ninety days of the election from voting was 
the practice, formerl^^ all too common, of a political boss paying 
the naturalization fee and perhaps further bribes to aliens just 
before election in return for their votes for his part^L Some 
states, however, allow their unnaturalized aliens who have taken 
out their first papers to vote. 

Political Parties :—One person’s vote counts for little un¬ 
less he combines with others to accomplish a certain end; hence 
the reason for the existence of political parties. There are evils 
attendant upon them, but these are not inevitable and can be 
remedied far better by concerted action within the party or by 
organized revolt against party leaders than by individual com¬ 
plaint and refusal to take part in party affairs. The first di- 



35 


vision along party lines came when Thomas Jefferson and his fol¬ 
lowers opposed the National Bank on the ground that the forma¬ 
tion of a bank was not mentioned among the powers granted to 
Congress in the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton and his parti¬ 
sans believed in the doctrine of implied powers and held that the 
power of Congress to borrow money included the right to estab¬ 
lish a bank. This difference of opinion as to the interpretation 
of the Constitution has formed the basis of division for political 
parties ever since, one taking the conservative, the other the pro¬ 
gressive view in connection wdth vital policies of the government. 
An individual’s owm temperament often decides his party affilia¬ 
tion ; yet one’s natural tendencies toward conservatism or radical¬ 
ism are strongly influenced by one’s impressions of the men at the 
head of the party. In the long run the personality of the leader 
is the touchstone of party success. Democracy needs leaders, 
men with a statesman’s vision and the courage to guide, not blindly 
follow, the people’s will. Therefore we vote more for men than 
for policies, for personalities rather than theories. Yet one must 
keep in mind that a good man is not necessarily an efficient man 
in a given position. A St. Francis would hardly make an efficient 
superintendent of the poor. We need experts in legislation and 
administration as much as a business concern does in managing 
its affairs. 

Enrollment: —New York State provides a w^ay by which 
the individual voter may have a voice in determining wffiat men 
shall be the candidates of his party by means of the primary elec¬ 
tion. In order to obtain the right to take part in this a voter 
must enroll himself as a member of one of the political parties on 
registration day, if he lives in a city or village of 5,000 or more 
inhabitants, in all other places on election day. This gives the 
privilege of voting in the primary election the next year^ since the 
primaries occur before registration day. Enrollment is not the 
same thing as registration, and it has nothing whatever to do wdth 
the general election. By enrolling oneself as a member of a party 
one does not bind himself to vote for the candidates of that party 
on the general ticket. It simply gives to a voter the important 
privilege of helping to decide who those candidates shall be. The 
process of enrollment is simply marking an X in a circle below 
the emblem of the chosen party on a printed ballot, signing one’s 
name, and handing the ballot to an election inspector. 

Primary Elections: —The primary elections are held the 
ninth Tuesday before general election; in presidential years an 


36 


additional primary is held the first Tuesday in April to choose 
delegates to the national conventions which nominate the candi¬ 
dates for President and Vice-president. Voting is done at the 
same places and under the supervision of the same officers as in 
the general elections. Ballots of a different color for each party 
are provided and on them are printed the names of one or more 
candidates for each office, but an additional space is always left 
blank for the voter to write in the name of a candidate if he wishes. 
This, however, will do little good in carrying the nomination unless 
a sufficient number of voters write in the same name. A candidate 
gets his name printed on the primary ballot by designation, that 
is, he secures signatures to a petition for that purpose equal in 
number to three per cent of the enrollment of his party in the 
political unit in which he desires an office. The candidate of each 
party who receives the greatest number of votes for a given office 
becomes the nominee of his party for that office, and his name is 
printed on the general election ballot. 

Committees: —Formerly candidates were chosen by the 
party committees. These committees still exist and their members 
are chosen at the primaries, one member of the county committee 
from each election district in the county and one member of the 
state committee from each assembly district, but their function is 
simply to formulate the policy of the party and call conventions 
for that purpose, with the exception that the state committee has 
the right to nominate presidential electors. 

Importance of the Primaries :—The primary system is by 
no means perfect and needs revision in many respects, but even in 
its present form it can do much toward keeping the control of 
affairs out of the hands of the bosses and in the hands of the 
people if the voters accept their responsibility. The importance 
of enrollment and voting at the primaries is too commonly over¬ 
looked, and indifference in this matter makes possible the con¬ 
tinuance in power of the party machine. Organization through 
committees is necessary and proper, but each voter should under¬ 
stand the urgent need of his taking part in the nomination of these 
committees and of candidates for office in order to prevent abuse 
of power. The ultimate responsibility for bad government in 
a democracy rests with the people themselves. 

Registration :—The requirement of registration was 
adopted to prevent the evil of plural voting. In cities and vil¬ 
lages of 5,000 or more inhabitants each voter must appear in 
person before the election inspectors on either the third or fourth 


37 


Friday or the third or fourth Saturday before election and have 
them record in the official list his name, age, place and length of 
residence, and signature. It will be seen that this process is not 
the same as enrollment, for it has nothing to do with one’s party 
affiliation. It is compulsory for one to register in order to vote 
in the general election, but enrollment has nothing to do with 
the general election and does not bind one to vote for his party 
at that time, but gives him the privilege of helping to pick the 
candidates of his party at the primary election. In districts of 
less than 5,000 inhabitants the registration days are the third 
and fourth Saturdays before election and the election inspectors 
must place on the official list the names of all formerly qualified 
voters and receive the registration in person or by affidavit of any 
newcomers in the district. 

General Elections :—Elections are held on the first Tues¬ 
day after the first Monday in November, a date originally set by 
Congress for the election of Presidential electors and adopted as 
general election day by New York State to save expense. This 
practice has a serious drawback, however, in that it tends to con¬ 
fuse national and local issues. A candidate’s views on the tariff, 
for example, are of the greatest importance if he is running for 
Congress, but of no particular moment if he is standing for the 
office of sheriff. In order to obviate this difficulty somewhat, 
elections of town and city officials are held in odd-numbered years, 
and state and national officers in even-numbered years. 

At each polling-place the officials in charge are appointed by 
the mayor of the city or by the town board in the township in 
equal numbers from lists prepared by the two leading political 
parties. The general charge of elections is in the hands of the 
county boards of commissioners of elections which are equally 
divided between the two principal parties and are appointed by 
the boards of supervisors. Together with the secretary of state 
and county clerks they are responsible for the printing of ballots 
and official statements of nominations and results of elections. 
The names of the successful candidates in the primaries are 
printed on the ballot as the nominees of their respective parties, 
and any other person wishing to run independently for office can 
secure a place on the ballot by a process of designation similar to 
that used for the primary elections. The names of candidates 
are grouped under the titles of the offices they aspire to with a 
tiny party emblem preceding each name. The order of the candi¬ 
dates is determined by the number of votes cast by their re¬ 
spective parties at the last election. This method makes it 


38 


nearly as difficult to vote a “straight’’ as a “split” ticket. Before 
the elections the newspapers usually print fac-similes of the ballot 
so that one may familiarize himself with it before the time to vote 
comes. 

On election day the polls are open from six in the morning 
to six at night. No electioneering is allow'ed within one hundred 
feet of the polls, but each party may maintain watchers to pre¬ 
vent fraud. When the voter enters the polling-place he is asked 
to write his signature that it may be compared with the one he 
made on registration day. He is then handed a ballot, steps into 
a booth, and makes an X mark before the name of each candi¬ 
date for whom he w ishes to vote; he then gives the folded ballot 
to the inspector in charge of the ballot boxes. It is no longer 
possible to vote a straight party ticket by making a single mark 
below a party emblem at the head of the ballot. Any erasure 
makes the ballot void, and the voter should ask for another. If 
the voting machine is used, the voter steps into the booth, and by 
means of the overhead lever closes the curtain and unlocks the 
machine. He then proceeds to move the lever in front of the 
name of each candidate for whom he wishes to vote. If he makes 
a mistake he may replace that lever and move the proper one, 
but the position in which he leaves the levers when he opens the 
curtain determines his vote, for the moving of the overhead lever 
records the vote. Herein lies the advantage of the machine in 
that it counts the votes automatically, and when the machine is 
opened at the close of the day the results are all ready for the 
inspectors to record, instead of their having to count the votes 
for each candidate on the ballot. 

Certified statements of these results are passed on to the 
board of supervisors who make an official count or canvass, as it 
is called, and authorize the county clerk to issue certificates of 
election to all officers elected within the county and to send the 
results of all votes for state and national officers to the state 
board of canvassers, consisting of the secretary of state, state 
engineer, comptroller, attorney-general, and treasurer. This 
board counts these votes and authorizes the secretary of state 
to issue certificates of election to the successful candidates. 

Election of the President: —The method of electing the 
President w'ritten into the Constitution by the members of the 
Federal Convention w^as not a result of experience as most of the 
successful parts of our national government were, but was an in¬ 
vention of their own by which they hoped to make it certain that 


39 


the ablest man in the country would be chosen. They provided 
that electors equal in number to the state’s total representation 
in both houses of Congress should be elected in each state on a 
day set by Congress (the first Tuesday after the first Monday in 
November) ; that these electors should meet in their respective 
state capitals on a day also set by Congress (the second Monday 
In January) and proceed to elect a President and Vice-president, 
It was hoped that these electors would be the ablest men from their 
states, and w^ould select the man best fitted to hold the office of 
President, since the framers of the Constitution distrusted the 
people’s ability to choose a worthy executive head. As a matter 
of fact the electors have become simply counters to record the 
party vote. They are named by the state committees usually 
fo r some petty political service and never fail to cast their votes 
for the nominees chosen by their party in its national convention. 

A single lever on the machine or a special space on the ballot 
is provid(^d so that a person can cast his vote for all the presi¬ 
dential electors at once. Ordinarily the wdiole electoral vote of 
a state is cast for the candidates of the party that cast the 
most votes; but sometimes a sufficient number of voters of one 
party may become confused and vote for the first one of the 
electors on their ticket, supposing that they have voted for all, 
so that the rest of the electors of the other party may actually 
get a larger number of votes. California’s vote was divided in 
this way in 1892, Maryland’s in 1908. 

The successful candidate for President must receive a ma¬ 
jority of the electoral vote, but this need not signify a majority 
of the popular vote, particularly if there happen to be three im¬ 
portant candidates as in 1912 when Wilson did not receive as 
many popular votes as Roosevelt and Taft together. It has even 
happened that the man wffio received the majority of the popular 
votes was not elected President, as in the case of Cleveland in 
1892. The reason for this was the large popular vote for Cleve¬ 
land in the south and the small Republican majorities in the north¬ 
ern states which have a large electoral vote. Indignation against 
the electoral college has never reached a high enough pitch to 
abolish it, yet, if its actual abolition is not feasible, at least a 
change making it conform more closely to the popular will by 
dividing the electoral vote of a state in proportion to its popular 
vote seems strongly advisable. The belief in the direct election 
of the President by popular vote is growing, how^ever, and such 
a change will probably come in time as has been effected in the 
choosing of United States Senators by the people. 


40 


Corrupt Practices Acts: —In order to prevent illegitimate 
use of money in elections each candidate for state or county 
office is required to send to the secretary of state an itemized ac¬ 
count of all money expended; the treasurer of the ])arty commit¬ 
tee must file with the clerk of the House of Rcjiresentatives an 
account of money spent in the election of national officers. There 
are certain forms of expenditure that are perfectly legitimate, 
such as the hiring of halls for speakers, printing of hand-bills, 
and travelling expenses, but the law punishes bribery by exclusion 
from suffrage. 

Short Baulot :—Because of the great difficulty that pre¬ 
sents itself to the average voter in determining which of the large 
number of candidates for office are best fitted for the positions 
they aspire to, there has been considerable agitation for a reform 
known as the short ballot which aims, by cutting down the num¬ 
ber of elective positions, to enable the voter to fix his attention 
on the most important offices. For example, in November, 1918, 
the voter will have to decide for whom he is going to cast his 
ballot for member of the House of Representatives, governor, 
lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, 
attorney-general, state engineer, state senator, member of as¬ 
sembly, and for the various county officers and judges whose 
terms have run out. The advocates of the short ballot would 
retain only the legislative officers, the governor, the lieutenant- 
governor, and comptroller. Of course this would increase the 
number of appointive positions, and the opponents of the idea 
claim that it would give too great power to the official who had 
the right to make these appointments. If, on the other hand, 
the voters, freed from the distraction of weighing qualifications 
for so many offices, could concentrate their efforts on a few candi¬ 
dates, able men could be placed in authority who could be held 
responsible for all inefficiency or corruption on the part of their 
subordinates. By an extension of the civil service examination 
requirements to many or all of these appointive positions the gov¬ 
ernment could command expert service. The modern tendency 
of political thought seems to be that increased responsibility 
coupled with strict accountability to the people will result in 
better government. 


41 


DATES FOR A VOTER TO REMEMBER. 

First Tuesday in April, 1920, and every fourth year there¬ 
after, Presidential primary. 

Ninth Tuesday before general election, regular primary 
election. 

Third and fourth Fridays and Saturdays before general 
election, registration and enrollment days. 

First Tuesday after the first Monday in November, general 
election day. 


CHAPTER A". 

METHODS OF LAWMAKING. 

The methods of passing bills used in the two houses of Con¬ 
gress and of the state legislatures respectively are so nearly 
identical that for general purposes a description of the treatment 
of a measure in one house will suffice for all. 

In theory any member may introduce a bill; in practice 
most measures of importance are drafted by some member of the 
committee to which they naturally belong. The usual custom is 
for a member to get the recognition of the presiding officer and 
ask permission to introduce a bill A page carries the bill down 
to the clerk who reads a summary of the contents of a bill called 
its title; this is known as the first reading. The presiding officer 
then refers it to the appropriate committee. If it is not a bill 
prepared by the committee, it is quite likely never to be reported 
back to the house, but is said to have been killed in committee. 
Public hearings are often held at which interested parties can ap¬ 
pear and present their views. The practical result of these is 
not so much to inform the committee as to satisfy those whom the 
bill helps or injures. Sometimes, however, men with expert 
knowledge are invited to private hearings to advise the committee. 

The chairman notifies the presiding officer when the commit¬ 
tee is ready to report. The reading of the bill or its title at that 
time is known as its second reading. Discussion of the measure 
follows and it is at this point that amendments are usually made, 
then an informal vote is taken to determine whether, in the opinion 
of the house, the bill is worth further consideration. This is 
called passing (or rejecting) a hill on the second reading. If a 
favorable vote results, a date is set on the legislative calendar for 
final discussion, for the bill in printed form must lie on the mem- 



42 


bers’ desk at least three days during which the house is in session 
before it can be again taken up. At the time set there can be 
little opportunity for debate unless the house resolves itself into 
a committee of the whole where the usual rules of procedure are 
suspended, one of the members takes the place of the presiding 
officer, and each member may speak for a given time, generally 
five minutes, on the measure. No final action can be taken, but 
as soon as the committee of the whole has been dissolved, a final 
vote may be brought about by moving the previous question, a 
parliamentary device for closing the debate. It should be said, 
however, that this cannot be used in the United States Senate 
where the time for debate is not restricted. In whatever way the 
debate may be closed, the bill is read again, usually as a whole, 
and, if passed on the third reading^ it is considered to have passed 
that house. It is then sent to the other house where it goes 
through the same process. Sometimes, to save time, a bill may 
be introduced into both houses simultaneously. The houses fre¬ 
quently disagree on certain parts of a bill and in such a case 
a conference or compromise committee from the two houses make 
up a bill which can be accepted by both. All amendments made 
by one house have to be passed by the other in order to be effective. 
The bill in its filial form is sent to the President or governor for his 
signature or veto. In case he vetoes the bill it may still become law 
if it is passed over his veto by a two-thirds vote of both houses. 
The executive may keep the bill ten days without either signing or 
vetoing it, if his objections to it are personal, in which case it be¬ 
comes a law without his signature. At the close of a session of the 
state legislature the executive has thirty days in which to consider 
bills; those which he fails to sign during that period cannot become 
law. The governor of New York State has the power to veto items 
in appropriation bills, a power which, if conferred on the Presi¬ 
dent, would do away with the obnoxious practice of ‘‘riders,” that 
is, legislation objectionable to the President introduced into an ap¬ 
propriation bill which the President must sign or veto as a whole. 
The practice of adding riders became very common in the years 
following the Civil War, and provisions having nothing to do with 
the general subject of the bill and in themselves undesirable for 
the best interests of the country were passed as parts of neces¬ 
sary appropriation bills. Finally President Hayes had the cour¬ 
age to veto a measure providing for the salaries of federal judges 
and containing a very objectionable I'ider. The judges had to 
suffer the consequences, but President Hayes’ act put a decided 
check upon the pernicious practice of riders. 


43 


CHAPTER XI. 

TAXATION. 

Principles of Taxation :—By the good citizen taxes are 
not regarded as an evil to be avoided if possible, but as payment 
for value received. The government must have revenue to perform 
all the services described in the other chapters of this book, and 
since every citizen shares in the benefits of the governmental func¬ 
tions, he should consider it no hardship to pay for them. If he 
believes that the government is extravagant or corrupt, he should 
combine with others to put wiser officers in power and insist upon 
publicity of government accounts. 

Taxes are based on two principles: on ability to pay or in 
return for benefits received. The latter principle has always 
been recognized, the former is of late coming into greater favor. 
The older argument runs like this: every citizen derives a benefit 
from the government, therefore he should pay a tax to the gov¬ 
ernment in proportion to his property which the state protects. 
This principle of taxation, however, brings to the poor man far 
more benefit in proportion to the amount of money he pays than to 
the rich man. The newer theory, in contrast, argues that a $5 
tax paid by a poor man represents far more hardship to him than 
a $500 tax does to a rich man; therefore taxes should be pro¬ 
portionally heavier on the rich than on the poor, as exempli¬ 
fied bv the income tax. In a well-adjusted system of taxation 
both principles should be recognized, for a citizen takes more 
interest in a government which he himself helps to support, yet 
the real burden of taxation should rest upon those who are able 
to bear it. 

In another way taxes may be divided into two classes as 
direct and indirect. A direct tax is one which a citizen pays di¬ 
rectly to the government as the income or the property tax. An 
indirect tax is paid to the government by a merchant or producer 
who then raises the price of the taxed article so that the consumer 
ultimately pays the tax, for example, the customs duties. This 
is a convenient way for the government to get large sums of 
money, but in that very fact there lies a danger, for the people 
do not know how much they are paying over to the government 
and cannot easily hold it to account for its expenditures. 

National Taxes: —The chief sources of revenue for our 
national government until recently have been the customs duties 
and the excise. No direct taxes, with the exception of the income 


44 


tax, have been levied since the Civil War until the recent war 
legislation. 

Customs duties are levied on articles imported into the coun¬ 
try in two forms: specific, or according to the quantity, and ad 
valoremy according to the value. They must be paid to agents 
of the government before the goods leave the dock or government 
warehouse. President Wilson has cut down the number of cus¬ 
tom-houses, leaving only those in the large ports, for those in 
smaller places cost much more to maintain than the revenue that 
they collected justified. Under ordinary circumstances customs 
duties have brought in a great revenue to the United States, but 
the cessation of imports due to the Great War has shown the 
danger of relying too exclusively on this source of income. More¬ 
over it is a difficult matter to increase .or decrease the tariff ac¬ 
cording to the needs of the country. The passage of a tariff 
bill by Congress takes many weeks, and the schedules are often 
put through by “log-rolling.” President Taft persuaded Con¬ 
gress to establish a tariff commission consisting of experts who 
study business conditions here and abroad, and recommend to 
Congress fair rates. When Congress learns to accept such recom¬ 
mendations we shall have a just tariff system. It is impossible 
for members of Congress, even those of long experience on the 
ways and means committee, to familiarize themselves sufficiently 
with such a technical subject as the tariff so that they can fix 
rates that will be fair to consumer, producer, and importer. The 
question of a protective tariff has been a political issue through 
most of our history. The chief argument for it is that, since 
American wages are high, many goods can be produced more 
cheaply abroad, and, unless a duty high enough to cover the dif¬ 
ference in cost of production is levied, these goods will be im¬ 
ported and undersell American-made goods, thus either throwing 
the laborer out of work or cutting down his wages. The free¬ 
trader replies that the protective tariff raises prices, therefore 
the high wages of the American laborer are of no real advantage; 
furthermore that a high tariff makes possible the establishment 
of trusts with their attendant evils. 

The excise or internal revenue duties are levied chiefly on 
the manufacture of alcoholic liquors and tobacco, though in 
emergency many luxuries are added to the list of dutiable goods, 
for example, cosmetics and playing-cards. These duties are 
cheaply and easily collected by means of stamps purchased by the 
manufacturer and affixed to the article before it can be sold. 
The prohibition movement will undoubtedly, sooner or later, cut 


45 


off the revenue from intoxicants, but duties on luxuries will prob¬ 
ably remain a favorite form of federal taxation. 

An income tax was levied during the Civil War and was 
again attempted in 1894, but was declared unconstitutional since 
the Constitution says: “Direct taxes shall be apportioned among 
the several states .... according to their respective numbers.” 
This led to the adoption of the sixteenth amendment to the Consti¬ 
tution which provides for the levy of an income tax without ap¬ 
portionment among the states. This levy is made on the income 
of individuals and of corporations (superseding the former corp¬ 
oration tax) in excess of certain amounts, and the rate is greater 
for the larger incomes. 

In war-time many other sources of revenue are sought out. 
Such direct taxes are levied as the tax on amusements and the 
increased postal rates. Many articles are added to the excise 
list. 


State Taxes: —Most states still rely on the general prop¬ 
erty tax for a part of their income, but they are using more and 
more such sources of revenue as the inheritance and corporation 
taxes. 

The inheritance tax exempts estates below a certain amount 
and exacts a lower rate for inheritance by direct heirs than by 
other legatees. The rate so far has been so low as to have little 
effect in dissipating large fortunes as some had hoped it would, 
yet it yields a large return to the state. 

There are two forms of state corporation taxes: one paid 
as a license when the corporation is chartered; the other a rate 
levied on the yearly earnings of the business. This has come to 
be the most important source of revenue to New York State. 

The state excise tax is a tax on the sale of liquor, not its 
manufacture, and is collected as a license fee for hotels and 
saloons. While prohibition will cut off this source of revenue it 
will also immensely cut down expenses for delinquents, dependents, 
and defectives who have been brought to that condition through 
alcoholic drink. 

The automobile license fee is also a lucrative form of tax. 

Local Taxes: —The county, village, and township depend 
almost entirely on the general property tax; the city adds certain 
license fees and franchises. Formerly cities so welcomed the serv¬ 
ices rendered by private companies operating public utilities that 
valuable franchises were given away, but municipal governments 


46 


are now waking up to the fact that these franchises are a reliable 
and legitimate source of income. Franchises are now usually 
granted on terms of yearly payments. 

There is wide-spread dissatisfaction with the general prop¬ 
erty tax, but as yet no adequate substitute has been devised. 
Henr}^ George’s scheme of the single tax proposes to tax land 
without any regard to the improvements put on it, its value being 
determined by its fertility or its location. While this might avoid 
the discouragement to improvements inherent in the present sys¬ 
tem, yet the practical difficulties of assessing the natural value 
are evident. Under the present plan the chief dissatisfaction is 
with the assessment as the valuations in different localities are in¬ 
equitable, and slight improvements to property often cause a dis¬ 
proportionate rise in the assessment. A board of assessors, usual¬ 
ly four in a city and three in a town, estimate the value of the real 
estate in their locality. Property is almost never assessed at its 
market value, but the amount usually remains the same year after 
year, unless there has been some evident improvement, or unless it 
is decided to raise the valuation of all the property in that district. 
The assessment roll, or list of the valuations, is laid open to the 
public at a time announced in the newspapers, and complaints 
may be entered by property owners at the time. The amount to 
be raised by taxes for a given year is divided by the sum total 
of the value of the property, and the quotient is the tax rate. 
The collector (or in a city the treasurer) sets a time for the taxes 
to be paid, and passes on to the county treasurer the share due 
to the county and state. A high tax rate may not necessarily 
mean an extravagant government, but rather a low valuation of 
property, while conversely, a low tax rate may mean a high valua¬ 
tion. A board of equalization in New York State* endeavors to 
keep the assessments equitable throughout the state. Another 
cause of dissatisfaction with the general property tax is because 
it is in reality simply a tax on real estate. Personal property 
is so difficult to assess that a tax on it makes the honest man bear 
the burden shirked by the dishonest man; so hundreds of people 
escape local taxes and thus make the rates higher for those who 
do own real estate. The school and water tax refer to the pur¬ 
pose for which the money is to be expended and are really forms 
of the property tax. 

Distribution of Forms of Taxes: —With the division of 
our government into national, state, and local, there comes the 
problem of a balanced system of taxes. Each unit must have its 


47 


fair share of revenue witliout overburdening any class of people. 
This is one reason why the federal government levies so few direct 
taxes and why the state governments try to find other sources of 
revenue than the property tax. 


CHAPTER XIL 

THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

CoMPULsoiiY Education Laws: —Since intelligence is one of 
the prime requisites for good citizenship, nearly all the states have 
laws requiring children of certain ages to attend school. New 
York State’s law provides that children in rural districts must 
attend school from the age of eight to sixteen, and in districts 
where there is a superintendent of schools, from seven to sixteen. 
A child can leave school at fourteen to go to work if he has a cer¬ 
tificate showing that he has attended school regularly for a cer¬ 
tain number of days during the year, can read and write, and is 
familiar with arithmetic at least through the subject of fractions. 
In cities of the first and second classes a child who wishes to work 
after he is fourteen must have completed the work of the grade 
schools and have earned a Regents’ preliminary certificate, or else 
attend night school or a trade school for a given length of time. 

Rural, Schools :—The townships are divided into sections 
known as school districts, each of which formerly had its “little 
red schoolhouse.” In many of these districts there were only a few 
children, and good teachers could not be obtained for the low 
wages paid, so in many cases the residents voted to abandon their 
school and provide a way for sending the children to the nearest 
village. This voluntary movement the legislature attempted to 
enact into law, but in trying to provide proper school facilities, 
they so greatly increased the rate of taxation in rural districts 
that the resulting storm of protest caused the repeal of the law. 
It is to be hoped that a better bill can be drawn distributing the 
burden of increased taxes in a fairer way and still providing better 
schools for country children. 

A school meeeting is held the first Tuesday in May at which 
any person paying taxes in the district or having a child of school 
age has the right to vote. It is interesting to note that, although 
women have for years had the privilege of voting school meeting 
on questions closely affecting the welfare of their children, very 



48 


few have taken the trouble to do so. This meeting elects one or 
more trustees and, in larger districts, a clerk, treasurer, and col¬ 
lector, and votes money for needed repairs; it may also discuss 
the erection of a new school building, or the union with other dis¬ 
tricts. In smaller districts the trustee performs all the ad¬ 
ministrative work; he collects the taxes, looks after repairs, and 
calls the meetings, in addition to his regular work of hiring teach¬ 
ers and providing for school discipline. 

Union Schools :—When two or more districts unite they are 
able to pay for the services of more expert teachers and have 
better equipped buildings. They frequently add a high school 
department to complete the course of study offered. They elect 
a larger board of trustees. When such a united district has a 
population of 5,000 or more they may elect a superintendent of 
their owm. 

District Superintendent: —All schools not having a super¬ 
intendent of their own are under the supervision of a district 
superintendent who is paid by and responsible to both the state 
and the county or that part of a county which he oversees. Many 
of the best district superintendents have been women who have had 
experience in teaching in rural schools. 

City Schools :—Many cities still elect their school boards, 
but in others the members are appointed by the mayor. The 
position carries with it no salary but some patronage in the way 
of jobs and contracts. Much more care is usually exercised in 
seeing that every class in the community is represented on the 
board than that men of the greatest fitness for the position are 
chosen. In some cities the school board has been so large as to be 
unwieldy, (New York had a board of forty-six members) but the 
new law providing for boards of seven members has been passed 
in the hope that men with real interest in the schools will be chosen. 
It is not the object to have educators on the board, but business 
men who are interested in children and will strive to equip the 
schools for their highest welfare. 

State Education Department: —The state legislature, by 
a joint ballot of its two houses, elects each year for a term of 
twelve years one of the board of twelve regents through whom 
the state provides for the education of its children. They may 
make regulations subject to general state laws, and they appoint 
a Commissioner of Education with executive and judicial powers. 


49 


Teachers :—Teachers are hired by the trustees in rural dis¬ 
tricts and by the superintendent with the consent of the school 
board in other communities. Each teacher must have one of sev¬ 
eral forms of state licenses before he can be employed in any 
public school, and in addition to this he is required in several 
cities to pass some form of local examination. More and more 
preparation is being required of a teacher, and this is as it should 
be, for every one recognizes that teaching is something more than 
the current opinion of it fifty years ago—holding a book open 
and hearing the children recite. Just as we realize that education 
is more than book-learning, so we must come to recognize that 
what a pupil gains in school depends largely upon the personality 
and character of the teacher. Some have feared that the boys in 
the public schools are being feminized by having so many women 
teachers, but as our schools are organized today the teachers who, 
as a rule, have the strongest and wisest, influence over boys are 
some of the splendid women who have devoted their lives to the 
service of boys and girls. Teaching is a profession to which 
women are particularly adapted, yet there as elsewhere they are 
paid less than men, though a large proportion of them are con¬ 
tributing to the support of families. The average salary of a 
woman teacher, in grade and high schools combined, is less tlian 
the wage of a carpenter and far below that of a plumber. Ap¬ 
parently the construction or sanitation of our homes is more im¬ 
portant than the character of our children, for the aim of every 
teacher worthy of the name is not so much to impart information 
as to train in good habits and develop character. Now that the 
war is calling women into industry at higher wages than they 
have ever before commanded school boards will be faced with a 
serious shortage of teachers unless salaries are considerably in¬ 
creased. The small number of men engaged in teaching lias 
always been due to the low salaries offered. 

School Funds: —A part of the local taxes is appropriated 
for the schools and the state gives substantial aid in their support. 
In first and second-class cities the school funds as well as all others 
are under the control of the board of estimate and apportionment, 
so that the school board has little or no authority in the fixing of 
salaries, and the teacher who has a political “pull” stands a far 
better chance of promotion than one without influence, regardless 
of the respective merits. Extravagance could be condoned in the 
equipping of schools if anywhere, yet many communities err on 
the other side, in refusing to see the real need for adequate equip- 


50 


merit. Graft can be excused least in jobs on school buildings of 
all places, jet it exists, often as an element of great danger in 
faulty plumbing or defective fire apparatus. 

School Problems: —Tax-payers often take the attitude 
“They didn’t have that when I went to school,” thereby con¬ 
demning all progress. It is diflicult to keep up wdth and appreci¬ 
ate all the changes that have come in our school systems in the 
last twenty-five years, yet one of the debts a good citizen owes his 
government is to see to it that the next generation is better 
equipped than his own, and so to take an intelligent interest in 
educational progress. Our present school system has many 
faults, but through experimenting with some innovations often 
condemned as “fads,” we have learned to appreciate some educa¬ 
tional princi])les forgotten since the days when ancient Athens 
endeavored to train her boys for good citizenship by develop¬ 
ment of body, mind and spirit. The compulsory physical train¬ 
ing law is doing what it can to provide sound bodies for the sound 
minds of our future citizens. The corrective work introduced 
into the physical training of children by teachers interested in 
the health of their pupils should be better understood and ap- 
})reciatcd by parents; the practical hygiene taught the children 
benefits the homes as w^ell. 

Furthermore educators have realized the importance of the 
co-ordination betw^een hand and brain that manual training 
brings, and they believe that it will bring a richer, fuller life to 
any boy whether he needs the delicate skill of the surgeon, or the 
trained ability of the mechanic, or the purely mental discipline of 
the law^yer. 

The school has had to take over many duties formerly per¬ 
formed by home training. Through practical courses in cooking 
and sewung girls may now prepare for the greatest career that 
can come to any of them, the making of a home. The domestic 
science classes of today may help to abolish the divorce courts of 
tomorrows 

Many courses offered have for their purpose the enrichment 
of the mind and the increase of the sources of enjoyment in life, 
as literature or nature study; but others are of practical value in 
preparing directly for some chosen occupation. The courses in 
agriculture given in country schools aim to check the movement of 
young people from the farms to the city by making work on the 
farm more interesting as well as more profitable. 


51 


There is grave danger, however, that, in our eagerness to 
give young people a practical education, we will allow them to 
neglect studies that do not promise a money return, and thus de¬ 
prive them of interests that relieve life’s drudgery and minister 
to the spiritual side of their natures. The teaching of morals 
and religion in the schools is still a hotly debated question, for on 
tlie one side we have the American idea of freedom from any pre¬ 
scribed form of religion, and on the other hand we fear the effects 
of the growing indifference on the part of our young people to 
the things of the spirit. 

There are a number of systems much-heralded as panaceas 
for all our educational ills. One of these, the Montessori sy^stem, 
aims to allow greater individuality than our public schools have 
done, and to effect a useful co-ordination of hand and mind. Its 
chief influence is for younger children and will tend to make the 
work in kindergartens more practical. The Gar}^ system was 
first worked out to make the school buildings more useful and 
to make it possible for more children to attend school. The 
school hours are lengthened and the pupils are divided into groups. 
Wliile one group is reciting in a class-room, another is having 
chapel exercises, another is in the manual training room, and 
another is in the gymnasium or having supervised })lay on the 
playground. Teachers oppose the plan because of the longer 
hours, and many parents object to having their children in school 
so long, yet this last is sometimes an objection of ignorance since, 
for many children, the supervised recreation that they have is 
far better than playing on the streets or at home. This system 
was worked out to meet conditions in one place; it should not be 
expected that it will perfectly meet the needs of other places. 
Many changes are needed in our school systems but they should 
be made gradually enough not to cause neglect or harm to the 
children in school at any time. Greater interest in the schools 
should be shown by the public, not for the purpose of interfering 
in work that should be done by experts but to make it possible 
for the schools to be equipped to meet the needs. 

CoMMXiNiTy Centers :—The use of school buildings as cen¬ 
ters for community recreation and improvement is steadily in¬ 
creasing, and should be encouraged both from the point of view 
of economy and of civic development. 


52 


CHAPTER XIIL 
CITIZENS OF TFIE WORLD. 

The early explorers of America took possession of the lands 
they discovered, each one in the name of his sovereign; hence the 
new world was regarded as the absolute property of the several 
European governments that had claims here. The general belief 
was that the colonies existed solely for the benefit of the mother 
country, consequently the colonial resources were exploited to 
develop home industries. France and Spain carried this policy 
to a far greater extent than England, but at the close of the 
French and Indian War in 1763 England, under her ambitious 
sovereign George III, attempted a stricter control of her colonies, 
as she thought she had firmly established her claims on this conti¬ 
nent. The opposition of the colonists was a surprise, their de¬ 
mand for equal rights with Englishmen a new idea, their attain¬ 
ment of independence an overthrow of the old colonial theory. 

Political independence brought with it a desire for complete 
isolation from Europe, and our weakness made it impossible to 
take any active part in international affairs, although fairly suc¬ 
cessful attempts to maintain respect for our rights were made 
when France insulted our diplomats, when the Barbary pirates 
levied tribute on our commerce, and when England seized our 
ships and impressed our seamen. We kept ourselves out of purely 
European quarrels, however, when they did not encroach on our 
rights, and we felt that European nations, in return, should not 
interfere in our affairs. This is the substance of the so-called 
“doctrine of isolation.” Washington and Jefferson are looked 
upon as the originators of this policy, but the former’s ideas are 
often misquoted or misunderstood. In his famous Farewell Ad¬ 
dress, written to decline the nomination for a third term, Wash¬ 
ington asked the privilege of giving his fellow-country-men some 
advice. The substance of his suggestions as to our foreign policy 
is as follows: that we should avoid “overgrown military establish¬ 
ments,” but keep ourselves on a “respectable defensive posture” ; 
that we should not enter into a “a permanent (^) alliance with 
any nation”; that with “the ordinary (^) vicissitudes of European 
politics” we are not concerned. Thus it is clear that the action 
of the United States in entering the present war is not in defiance 
of Washington’s precepts. To Jefferson is due the oft-quoted 
phrase “entangling alliances with none,” but Jefferson’s foreign 
policy was weak and vacillating. 


^Italics are the author’s. 



53 


During the early })art of the nineteenth century nearly all 
Spain’s colonies in the Americas revolted from her and set up 
independent governments, some republics and some monarchies. 
Meanwhile a revolution took place in Spain itself which was finally 
put down by a number of European monarchies combining in the 
Holy Alliance to replace the Spanish king on his throne. After 
this was accomplished the Holy Alliance intended to restore to 
Spain her former colonies, the independence of which had been 
recognized by the United States, or to seize them for themselves. 
Meanwhile Russia had been extending her settlements along the 
Pacific coast from Alaska into the Oregon country which was at 
that time claimed jointly by Great Britain and the United States. 
The British government proposed to the United States that they 
take joint action against Russia and the Holy Alliance, but dis¬ 
trust of Great Britain was still so strong that her friendly offer 
was rejected and instead John Quincy Adams, then secretary of 
state, advised President Monroe to devote part of his message to 
Congress in December, 1823, to this subject. This, then, is the 
famous Monroe Doctrine, not a treaty, not even a law—a simple 
statement in a message to Congress. It should properly be known 
as the Adams doctrine for John Quincy Adams was the originator 
of the idea, if not of the actual words. The statement of the 
doctrine consists of two main parts: first that these American 
continents are not open to future colonization by any European 
power; second that attempts to interfere with any existing gov¬ 
ernments on this continent would be considered unfriendly to the 
United States. Tliis simple protest had the desired effect, for 
Russia ceased her encroachments and the Holy Alliance gave up 
their plans of aggression. The application of this doctrine was 
not again required until about forty years later when the French 
attempted to establish an empire in Mexico during our Civil War. 
This came to an abrupt end, however, when Seward, Lincoln’s 
secretary of state, demanded the withdrawal of French troops. 

The later applications of the Monroe doctrine have shown 
another phase of its meaning in demonstrating that the United 
States is the defender of the rights of smaller American states. 
We have had occasion to champion the cause of Venezuela on two 
occasions: in 1895 President Cleveland forced Great Britain to 
arbitrate a disputed boundary between British Guiana and Vene¬ 
zuela; in 1902 President Roosevelt, by a sharp note to the Kaiser, 
prevented the landing of German troops to collect debts. 

Such a policy as this, however, brings added responsibility 
to our government; for, if the United States will not allow foreign 
nations to collect their debts or protect their property, she must 


54 


do it for tlicm. American marines liave restored order in several 
revolutions in order to protect property, but the most interesting 
development of this ])olicy occurred first in San Domingo and is 
gradually spreading to other weak states, such as Haiti and 
Nicaragua. American civilians were sent to San Domingo in 
11)05 to take over the custom-house, collect the duties, set aside 
a certain proportion to })ay the interest on the foreign debt, and 
turn over tlie rest to the Dominican government. Under this 
regime of l)usincss honesty the government received a much 
larger income tlian wlien they were collecting the customs them¬ 
selves, and the creditor nations were satisfied. 

1 hough the Monroe doctrine has benefited our American 
neighbors in such ways as these, yet they, fearing that our as¬ 
sumption of the chamj)ionshi}) for their independence means a de¬ 
sire for ultimate coiKjuest, have cherished feelings of distrust 
toward th.e United States. However, our treatment of Cuba 
following the Spanish-American war and our invitation to Argen¬ 
tina, Brazil, and Chile to aid in solving the IMexican problem have 
done much to dispel this feeling. With few exceptions, the United 
States has lived up to Washington’s counsel to “observe good faith 
and justice toward all nations.” 

The jMonroe doctrine, by im])lication, continues the doctrine 
of isolation, in that the United States believes that Europe should 
not interfere in Ajuerica for the reason that America has no in¬ 
tention of interfering in Europe. However the growth of the 
United States in territoi-y, in wealth, and in industry has made it 
one of the greatest nations of the world, and circumstances have 
forced it to take up the res])onsibilities of such a position. In the 
Sj)anish-American War we, for the first time, attem})ted to drive 
a foreign nation out of a colony she had long possessed, but we 
did it because Spain had forfeited her right to Cuba by her dis¬ 
regard for the laws of humanity. Our acquisition of the Philip- 
]:>ines brought us a now set of interests and responsibilities in tbe 
Pacific. The United States joined with other nations at the 
Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907 in making certain agree¬ 
ments to be observed as international laws; it sent representatives 
to the Algeciras conference which was called to settle the question 
of French control of Morocco; its troof)s are now fighting shoulder 
to shoulder witli the soldiers of Great Britain and France to pre¬ 
serve those principles for which it has always stood. TTence the 
doctrine of isolation as part of American policy today is obsolete, 
but the Monroe doctrine can still be upheld, not for the Americas 
only, but for the whole world, as the right of small nations to be 
free and independent. 


55 


CHAFTER XIV. 

THE TERRITORIES. 

Colonizing Movements Within the United States:— 
Tliat the United States has always been a great colonizing ])owTr 
is seldom appreciated. Yet the ikiassachusetts men who settled in 
the Connecticut valley, the pioneers who crossed the Alleghanies 
from Virginia into Kentucky, and the settlers who followed in the 
wake of Sullivan’s expedition into the Iroquois country were as 
truly colonists as their predecessors who crossed the sea from 
England. Each new acquisition of territory—the Louisiana 
Purchase, Texas, Oregon, the.Mexican cession—has meant a great 
westward migration, until, from Canada on the north to Mexico 
on the south, the two great oceans have enclosed a mighty people 
whose pioneering instinct could content itself with nothing less. 

Rights of Colonists :—The American people have, however, 
never been dominated by a desire to rule. As they claimed in 
colonial days that they lost none of the rights of Englishmen when 
they crossed the sea, so in all justice they granted to the pioneer 
who carried the American flag across prairie, mountain, and 
desert equal rights with the man who developed commerce, manu¬ 
facturing, or agriculture on the Atlantic seaboard. 

Government of Territoihes :—The foundation of our 
policy toward territories is found in the Ordinance of 1787, a 
historic document written by Thomas Jefferson for the govern¬ 
ment of the territory lying between the Great Lakes and the Ohio 
and Mississippi Rivers. It guarantees civil rights to the settlers 
in this North-west Territory, and provides for their government 
a governor and three judges with full powers under the direc¬ 
tion of Congress; when, however, the population of this territory, 
or any part of it, grows sufficiently to warrant such permission, 
the people are allowed to elect a representative legislature of their 
own ; when the people desire admission wdth full rights of state¬ 
hood they may gain these, provided the constitution framed by 
them meets wdth the approval of Congress. Lender such regula¬ 
tions all the continental possessions of the United States, except 
Alaska, have been organized as territories and admitted as states. 

Organized Territories :—Alaska and the Haw^aiian Islands 
are at present governed as fully organized territories. Each has 
a legislature of two houses popularly elected, a governor and 


56 


judges appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate, 
and a territorial delegate elected by the people with a seat in the 
House of Representatives and the right to speak, but not to vote. 

The Philippines :—The government of the Philippines 
closely resembles that of an organized territory. The two legis¬ 
lative houses are elected by the Filipinos themselves, but certain 
limits have been set to their powers of lawmaking. A governor, 
vice-governor, auditor, and judges are appointed by the Presi¬ 
dent with the consent of the Senate. Two commissioners elected 
by the legislature represent the islands in Washington. They 
have no seats in Congress but are allowed to speak on matters 
affecting the Philippines. 

Porto Rico :—The government of Porto Rico is that of a 
partly organized territory since only the lower house of their 
legislative body is elected by themselves. The upper house, in 
which one-half of the members are natives, is appointed by the 
President with the consent of the Senate as are also the governor 
and judges. The upper house acts as the governor’s cabinet 
with administrative powers in addition to its legislative functions. 
A commissioner elected by the people is sent to Washington to 
represent their interests there. 

Other Dependencies: —The Panama Canal Zone has no 
legislature, but the President appoints a governor and judges. 
Guam, the Samoan Islands, and the newly acquired Danish West 
Indies are each governed by a naval officer. 

Policy: —Two decades ago the United States was accused 
of entering upon an imperialistic policy. That charge has not 
been justified by subsequent events. Our evacuation of Cuba, our 
administration of the finances of San Domingo, our granting of 
increased liberties to the Filipinos, all tend to prove that our aims 
are altruistic. The question of the ultimate independence of the 
Philippines is still unsettled, but if the United States lives up to 
the traditions of its colonial policy, the final determination of the 
problem will be just and fair to all. 


57 


CHAPTER XV. 

CITY PROBLEMS. 

Viscount Bryce, former British ambassador to the United 
States, says in his book. The American Commonwealth, ‘‘There 
is no denying that the government of cities is the one conspicuous 
failure of the United States.” The purpose of this chapter is to 
suggest some of the difficulties that confront a city government 
and to consider some of the proposed reforms. 

Form of Government: —The size of the common council in 
many cities makes it difficult for it to be a truly deliberative body. 
Discontent with this situation is revealed in the fact that the 
budget in first and second-class cities is entrusted to a small re¬ 
sponsible body, the board of estimate and apportionment. In 
New York City this board has entire charge also of the very im¬ 
portant matter of granting franchises. The custom of choosing 
an alderman from each ward leads at times to a “pork barrel” 
system of legislation, each alderman trying to get some special 
favor for his district, rather than considering improvements that 
would benefit the city as a whole. 

The short term and comparatively low salary offered the 
mayor makes it an unattractive position to most successful busi¬ 
ness men, yet the qualities that made possible their success in 
business are the very ones needed for an efficient mayor. The 
evil of political appointments in cities has been abolished so far 
as clerkships and some subordinate positions are concerned by a 
system of competitive civil service examinations. It is to be 
hoped that the time will come when the aspirant for any ad¬ 
ministrative position will have to show his fitness by some sort 
of test. If our officials could have a period of preparation for 
their work similar to the training of a teacher or a physician, if 
we could dignify the word politician to mean a trained public 
servant, we would have taken a long step toward really efficient 
government. Such a condition can come only when the people 
have overcome their present indifference to inefficient government 
and awake to the necessity of paying adequate salaries for expert 
service. 

An evidence that the public is coming to realize a need for 
improvement along these lines is seen in the adoption by many 
cities of the commission form of government, or its later develop¬ 
ment the commission manager plan. When Galveston, Texas, 


58 


was overwhelmed by a tidal w’^ave, its mayor and council form of 
government proved inadequate to meet its needs, so they put their 
municipal affairs into the hands of a commission of five men with 
full Igislative and executive power. They were so successful in 
meeting the situation that other cities tried the plan, some having 
each commissioner take charge of a particular part of the city 
administration. 

The city of Dayton, Ohio, after its destructive flood, adopted 
a plan that had been tried in a few smaller cities; a board of five 
men with legislative duties and serving without pay was formed’ 
and this board was empowered to hire, at a high salary, a city 
manager, not necessarily a resident of the city, who should be 
responsible to them for the efficient administration of the whole 
city government with power to appoint and remove all subordinate 
officials. Dayton claims an administration both economical and 
efficient under this regime. These changes have met with severe 
criticism and much opposition, yet they embody the idea of 
choosing by popular vote a few men, giving them a great deal 
of responsibility, and watching them carefully, w’hich is the secret 
of good government. 

Finances : — The state law limits the debt any city may un¬ 
dertake to ten per cent of the assessed value of the real estate 
within its limits, and the tax levy for any year to two per cent 
of the assessment. 

It is well to understand the way in which a city budget is 
made up. Taking a second-class city for example, the head of 
each of the various administrative departments must present to 
the mayor by November first an estimate of the money his de- 
])artment will need during the coming year; the mayor submits 
these estimates to the board of estimate and apportionment, 
which proceeds to adjust the various items in relation to each 
other and to the estimated revenues; the board then passes on the 
completed budget to the common council which may not raise any 
item, nor may it reduce or omit any salary. The largest items 
in a city’s expense account are the schools and the care of the 
streets. The extravagance and even corruption of municipal 
governments in maintaining sinecure positions and in graft on 
contract jobs are well known, but the fault lies with the citizens 
who will endure such conditions without trying to find a remedy. 
The civic conscience needs awakening, as well, so that work for 
the city will no longer be looked upon as an opportunity for big 
pay and bad workmanship. ' 


59 


Municipai. Ownership: —The importance of a city’s own¬ 
ing its own water-suppl}^ in order to insure its quantity and 
purity is almost universally recognized, and many cities have ac¬ 
quired possession of their lighting systems, hence the controversy 
over municipal ownership is now waged chiefly over the control of 
street railways. Many arguments frequently heard in favor of 
this are merely statements of opinion that can be proved only by 
experience, for example, as to the greater efficiency of the service. 
Arguments drawn from European cities will not necessarily apply 
to our own conditions. A feeling of distrust of our city officials 
gives rise to the belief that government ownership will give an 
undue opportunity for graft. Opponents of the ’scheme also 
argue that there wdll be no incentive for individuals to put their 
best efforts into the business and that those who run it will get 
their positions for political reasons and not for ability. The 
strongest argument for it is that, since the business will not be 
run for profit, the rates can be lowered. Before municipal owner¬ 
ship of public utilities succeeds to any degree we must reorganize 
our city governments so that the citizens will have confidence in 
the honesty and the ability of their officials. New York City has 
worked out a scheme in connection with her subway system that 
promises to avoid the evils and retain the benefits of municipal 
ownership. The city divided with a company the initial expense 
of constructing the subways, and shares the yearly profits in ex¬ 
cess of a certain percentage of gain which goes entirely to the 
company. At the end of a certain period during which the 
company will have reimbursed itself for its investment, the title 
to the subways passes over to the city and it will let the contract 
for operating the system either to the same company or some 
other. By this plan the managers of the company are encour¬ 
aged to put forth their best efforts since the company has at least 
a share in all profits, and the city can use its enormous credit 
in financing the work of construction. The people receive the 
much-needed transportation facilities and still have a control 
over the system that no ordinary franchise could give. 

Most franchises now require a street railway company to 
pay the city a certain per cent of its gross earnings, to pave be¬ 
tween the tracks and for a foot on either side, and to make certain 
arrangements about fares and transfers. A franchise cannot be 
too carefully drawn to guard the interests of the people. 

City Streets: —When a new street is to be opened the city 
acquires the land either by purchase or, if the owners are unwill¬ 
ing to part with their property, by condemnation proceedings. 


60 


The city engineer then determines the width and grade of the 
street. The next step should be, but unfortunately not always is, 
adequate provision for public utilities below the surface. Sewage 
and water pipes should be laid of sufficient size to provide for 
future needs; gas mains and electric wiring should be installed. 
The ideal city in this respect is Paris, where there is a complete 
system of subterranean passages where all these utilities are in¬ 
stalled and all repair work can be done without disturbing the 
pavement. The initial cost was, of course, enormous, but the 
saving in repairs, both in money and in convenience, has justified 
the outlay. The nature of the pavement is determined partly by 
the use to which the street is to be put and partly by the wishes 
of the property owners. A residence street is usually paved with 
asphalt, a business street with brick, or wood blocks, or stone 
where the traffic is heaviest. The cost is generally divided be¬ 
tween the owners of the property improved and the city at large. 
The graft frequently connected with contracts for paving should 
be severely condemned. The construction, repair and cleaning 
of the sidewalks are the duty of the individual property owner. 

The cleaning of the streets is a matter that affects the health 
of the citizen as well as the appearance of the city, yet some 
cities are shamefully negligent in this respect. The sweeping of 
the streets by the “white wings” and the sprinkling to keep down 
the dust should not be the sole reliance for cleanliness, but all 
pavements should be thoroughly flushed at frequent intervals and 
dirt roads should receive a coating of oil. Individuals also have 
a responsibilityit is not good citizenship to throw papers or 
other litter upon the streets, or allow it to remain on the sidewalk 
or in the yard. If we were better citizens in this respect we 
need not have the annual clean-up day instituted in so many 
cities. Snow removal is an expensive problem which New York 
City has partially solved by shoveling the snow into the sewers. 

Public Safety: —Since it rests with the policeman to pro¬ 
tect the property and lives of the citizens, an efficient police force 
is one of the prime necessities, and any mayor who weakens the 
morale or the efficiency of the police department is a menace to 
the community. In Mayor Mitchell’s administration the New 
York City police force under Commissioner Woods attained a 
condition which other cities might well emulate. Recognizing the 
need of a high morale in the force Mr. Woods encouraged the 
men by promotions for merit, organized classes of various kinds 
to help them to better themselves, and inspired in them a real pride 
in their organization. Corruption of the police by men who run 


61 


gambling-houses and disobey the liquor laws is bard to detect, but 
a vigilant commissioner like Woods enforces a strict discipline in 
such matters. Good citizens are learning that policeman is their 
best friend instead of the bug-bear he was formerly considered. 
The police themselves can do much to encourage this feeling. A 
certain New York police sergeant organized the boys in his pre¬ 
cinct into a force of Junior Police, giving them certain definite 
duties for which they w^ere responsible, one of which was to sec 
that the fire escapes were kept free from obstructions. A number 
of police stations in New York had Christmas trees hung with 
gifts for the poor children of their districts. The work of the 
traffic policeman has also shown people the real value of the uni¬ 
formed force. A number of cities have added one or more police¬ 
women to the force. One of their chief duties has been to act as 
probation officers with the added authority that the badge of office 
^ives them. The consensus of opinion seems to be that a police¬ 
woman well-trained and devoted to her work is of inestimable 
value in reclaiming wayward women and girls. 

The people’s safety depends also on the efficiency of the fire 
department and naught but praise can be said of this branch of 
public service; yet, in spite of their courage and ability, ,we burn 
up annually millions of dollars worth of property through our 
carelessness. Fire prevention is a subject to which every person 
needs to give more careful thought. Every city has fire limits 
within which no wooden building can be erected. A city’s build¬ 
ing code, which forms a large and important part of its laws, in¬ 
cludes regulations as to height of buildings, fire escapes and ex¬ 
tinguishers, which aim to protect its people. Inspection of these 
matters, however, is far less rigid than it should be, but this could 
be corrected if citizens would demand it instead of trying to avoid 
the law. 

Health: —An active health department can do much for a 
city’s welfare in the prevention of disease through inspection of 
foods and water supply. The establishment of baby stations 
where mothers are taught how to care for their little ones has 
lowered the rate of infant mortality. Many cities hire nurses 
to visit the homes to watch for signs of tuberculosis and other 
contagious diseases and to instruct people in the elements of per¬ 
sonal and house hygiene. School nurses and doctors guard the 
children of school age against contagion and insist on proper care 
of eyes and teeth. All this betokens a very different attitude 
toward disease than our grandmothers’ resigned belief that it was 
a dispensation of Providence. 


62 


Disposal of Waste: —Garbage and sewage disposal are 
matters closel}’^ related to the health of the people. The removal 
of garbage is usually let out on contract, for American cities 
have been slow to follow the example of European cities which, 
through municipal reduction plants, have used refuse as fuel to 
create electricit}’^, and have converted the by-products into soap 
and fertilizers. Other forms of waste are sorted and some con¬ 
tractors have become immensely wealthy through the disposal of 
such refuse. A bill giving New York City the right to share in 
the profits from this waste was unfortunately vetoed by the gov¬ 
ernor. Many cities still need education as to the necessity for 
proper sewage disposal that they may not pollute water used by 
other communities for drinking purposes. 

Care of the Poor :—Much harm is done by indiscriminate 
charity on the part of public officials as well as of private organi¬ 
zations. There is great need, therefore, that a commissioner of 
charities should be trained for his work that he may dispense the 
city’s poor fund wisely. Some women Avho have studied economics 
and social problems have been very successful in such positions. 
Not only should there he expert, but kindly investigation of each 
case to })revent pauperizing the recipient of charity, but there 
should be such an organizing of the churches and other relief¬ 
giving agencies that duplication of aid would be prevented and 
that the workers might all co-operate in seeking out all needy 
cases. This is done in some cities through the Charity Organi¬ 
zation Society, but cities lacking this might well combine their 
public and private charitable work under an efficient commissioner. 
Employment bureaus are maintained under the direction of this 
department in some cities, the efficiency of which would be greatly 
increased if the}^ could work in co-operation with state and na¬ 
tional agencies. The work of the charities department should be 
broadened to include the prevention of poverty as well as its 
relief. 

Recreation :—An up-to-date city recognizes that parks, 
playgrounds, public baths, libraries, and museums are a means 
of preventing crime, of maintaining health, and of promoting 
efficiency that in the long run makes them a source of profit, 
rather than expense. Americans need, however, to cultivate a 
civic pride in these things that will protect public property for 
the good of all. We see daily acts of wanton destruction that 
show a lack of appreciation and of thoughtfulness that are most 
undesirable traits in citizens. 


63 




City Planning: —The older cities in the United States ^rew 
like Popsy, but the new cities, and the older ones that have con¬ 
tinued their growth, have, in many cases, endeavored to make 
plans that would cover future needs and provide for the con¬ 
venience and health of their citizens and the beauty of their 
municipality. 

The one example in this country of a city well planned from 
ilic beginning is the national capital, laid out under the direction 
of the French architect L’Enfant. Not all cities could or should 
follow the exact plan of Washington’s streets but, with a due 
regard for geographic conditions, a plan might be adopted for 
each city whereby the monotony of the checkerboard plan, as 
well as the confusion found in lower NeAv York, may be avoided. 
Many cities have spent vast sums for improving their older sec¬ 
tions^ yet have found the expense justified in the increased value 
of the property. Every city should take thought for its future 
growth and compel real estate dealers and property owners to 
conform to a definite plan. Regulations as to the height of 
buildings and their alignment with the sidewalk are becoming 
more and more common. 

Slums are not necessary in a modern city provided proper 
regulations as to air-space, light, and plumbing equipment in the 
tenement house district are enforced. These conditions affect not 
only the people living in that quarter, but should be of vital inter¬ 
est to all residents of the city? for diseases originating in the 
darkness and filth of the slums spread without respect for marble 
fronts. 

A reaction from materialism has led to the movement for the 
city beautiful. The removal of unsightly billboards, the cleaning 
up of backyards and vacant lots, the laying out of parkways 
and installing decorative lighting systems are some of the practi¬ 
cal results. Some of these are, no doubt, uncalled-for extrava¬ 
gances to give some politician’s friend a good “rake-off,” yet 
they may and do come as a result of a public awakening to man’s 
aesthetic needs, as a sign of a fine civic spirit which we sorely 
need to regenerate our. community life. 






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